The crowd at the Arriola XXII JazzBlues Festival in Elorrio

November has very much been a behind the scenes month with not a lot of public activity apart from a few gigs, most notable among those being our gig at the Arriola XXII JazzBlues Festival in Elorrio up in the beautiful Basque country near Bilbao. As always, the capacity crowd was really appreciative and danced for pretty much the entire three hours of the performance. There are a few photos from the trip on the Sons of the Delta Facebook page. We look forwards to heading back over to Spain next year.

I’ve been busy writing new songs for the next Sons of the Delta album with at least four songs in the bag and a few more on the way. The album will be a mix of band and duo songs to best represent both permutations of the Sons live. The songs on the first two albums have all been originals but on the new album we may include studio versions of a few cover songs that we do live, mostly obscure and re-worked, that always go down well and have become favourites with the audiences. I’d like to avoid any obvious covers – ones that have been covered a hundred times before – as that would be lazy and not really add anything to the global blues collection.

The Jigantics debut albums moves forward. Most of the recording has been completed so now comes the task of mixing. There is an equation when it comes to  studio time: allow twice as long for the mixing as you did for the recording. So with that in mind, the album is still a little way off but hopefully not too long!

the Myers Brothers Band, who I had the privilege of gigging and recording with in Ottawa in October, have just released their latest album ‘Drive’. The album was recorded during both my trips over to Ottawa and I am delighted to be involved in the project both as a guest performer (harmonica and Hammond organ) and as co-producer. The album is available now as a download via CDBaby – click here to visit the page – and the CDs will be available in the next few weeks. A big thank you to Mike and Stevie for inviting me over and I look forward to revisiting Canada next year.

If you want a flavour of our trips over to Mississippi, try and watch ‘Rick Stein Tastes The Blues’. It’s no longer on the BBC iPlayer so you’ll have to keep an eye open for its appearance on YouTube. He meets several of our Clarksdale friends and also stays in the very shack at the Shackup Inn that we stayed at last April. The programme is a great mixture of music and food, so what’s not to like?

Right, I’ve got another tune in my head so I’m off to do some more songwriting.

The Myers Brothers Band with Mark Cole at the Rainbow, Ottawa

I did take my laptop to Canada but I was way too busy to think about anything other than the odd Facebook update and too busy since my return to do this post.

Canada was, as expected, fantastic and the Myers brothers looked after me exceptionally well. Last year when I visited we recorded the basic tracks for an album and we were determined to get the album finished this trip. But first we had our Ottawa gigs – Saturday night at the Bass Line Station and Sunday night at the prestigious Rainbow, Ottawa’s long-established premiere blues venue. Both gigs went really well and it was a special joy to play at the Rainbow and to add my name to the many famous names written all over the dressing room walls (thanks to Jamie Cashin for his Rainbow gig photo at the top of this post). The Myers brothers, with Pepé Lopez Jr. on drums and myself on harp and occasional slide guitar, kept the venues rocking with two sets totalling nearly three hours. Those boys deliver! Back to the recording and we managed to get some of Mike’s vocals completed at the Ottawa studio early the following week then it was off to Mike’s lakeside cottage up in Quebec. Most of the time was spent at Pine Door Studios finishing the vocals, some extra guitar work and mixing down but we had some time to relax at the cottage and take the boat out. You can’t beat the taste of food cooked out on the BBQ next to the lake! On Saturday night we made the short trip through the woods to Maniwaki and played at Le Resto. It was a return visit and I really enjoyed catching up with the friends I had made at the gig there last year. They are a really appreciative and friendly crowd who really know how to party! Everyone was up dancing from the first song and by the end of the night I was playing harp on the tables and Mike was crawling on his back across the floor as he played guitar. Wild! It was a late and crazy night but we rose fairly early the next day and managed to get the album finished, including an impromptu acoustic track which we recorded at the cottage. It’s getting mastered over here in the UK and the CD should be on the shelves in time for Christmas. Don’t worry, there’s one reserved for you ;) and if you prefer downloads then iTunes will have it early in the new year. Keep your eyes open for “The Myers Brothers Band – Drive”.

There was no time to rest after my return – I had to repair a guitar that broke just before I flew to Canada and also one of my harps which took a hammering while I was away. Then the following three nights I was out gigging and then in the studio for the start of the mixing down of the Jigantics debut album. Sunday night I saw the excellent J Alexander and the Blues Devils at the newly formed Gloucester Blues Club and Monday night Steve Earle at Birmingham Symphony Hall. What a superb concert. Over three hours of songs old and new, with a great band – the Dukes and Duchesses – which included his wife Alison Moorer. If you haven’t seen him make sure you don’t miss him next time he’s in your area!

So that’s why this post has had to wait a while. I’m now off to write an article on my time with the Myers Brothers plus transcribe an interview I did with them, to be printed in a British blues magazine in the very near future. It’s all go! Not so many gigs this month but I need to concentrate on finishing the Jigantics album and write new songs for the next Sons of the Delta album. No rest for the wicked! ;)

The Lee Delta Blues Club, Cork.

The sun is shining (for now) and I’m drying out my clothes after a very wet but very wonderful weekend in Cork, playing at the Cork Folk Festival with Rick as the Sons of the Delta duo.

It was a weekend of not much sleep and a lot of beer, so pretty much what you’d expect from one of Ireland’s best live music cities. We arrived at our hotel lunchtime on Thursday after a three-hour drive to Pembroke port, a four-hour overnight ferry trip then another three hours driving from Rosslare port to Cork. Needless to say we grabbed a few hours sleep before heading into town to check out our first venue, the Lee Delta Blues Club held at the Corner House, only a five-minute walk through the rain from our hotel. Words can’t do justice but the atmosphere in the place was fantastic as was the warmth of the people – and that’s true of all the venues we played at. See the Sons of the Delta Facebook page  for some of the photos I uploaded during the trip. It was especially gratifying to see a large number of younger people in the audience. Not only did they really enjoy our show but several of them bought our CD, proving my belief that if they are exposed to good blues and roots music they will enjoy it. Take note all you major radio stations!

Friday. After one of the most fantastic coffees we’d ever had, at the wonderful Cork Coffee Roasters, we spent the day as wet tourists and then headed to the wonderful Crane Lane Theatre for our gig that evening. The theatre was less a theatre in style and more like a club from the 30′s. Think of a darker version of New York’s Cotton Club and you’ll get the idea. Again there was a good crowd and apart from some trouble with Rick’s amp the gig went very smoothly and we had the crowd dancing in front of the stage. The rain certainly didn’t stop people coming out to enjoy the festival.

Saturday. The day started dry but by the time we’d set up and started to play at the open stage on the Grand Parade the rain had started once again. A real shame as although we were covered the crowd wasn’t but it didn’t stop a brave few from huddling under umbrellas to watch us play an acoustic set. Job done and Cork conquered; we headed back to Rosslare for the night ferry home.

Other highlights since my last blog have been the South Coast run of gigs for both the Sons of the Delta and the Jigantics, most notably the Southsea Folk & Roots Festival, and the Jigantics were proud to headline this year’s Gig @ the Quarry in Avening. This annual event is a fundraiser for the Meningitis Trust and everything is given to the event by sponsors and volunteers. My youngest son had meningitis when he was young and so this cause is particularly close to my heart.

This coming weekend the Sons of the Delta duo have three gigs at the Swanage Blues Festival. Really looking forward to those and catching up with the friends we made last year. After that I’m off to Ottawa again to spend time with the Myers Brothers Blues Band. Mike and Stevie have asked me over to play some dates with them around Ottawa and up in Quebec. We’ll also spend some time out at Mike’s lakeside cottage mixing down their latest CD on which I play harmonica. I may take my laptop and keep you updated while I’m there and I may just wait til I get back and tell you all about it then.  I’m going with the flow.

Casa de Cultura, Gandia, Valencia, Spain.

It’s been a hectic time since my last post.

The Gloucester Rhythm and Blues Festival was great fun as always with a great variety of blues and blues-influenced music. I managed to see a lot of acts and also had the pleasure of performing quite a few times during the week with the two highlights for me being our Maxwell Street Blues Band gig in the function room of the New County Hotel on the first Saturday night and our Sons of the Delta band gig at the Pig Inn on the last Saturday night. The back room of the Pig was decked out in Christmas lights for the night and as always the sound in there was tight and punchy, just what we love. Add in to the mix a very hot and sweaty atmosphere and a large crowd and you have all the ingredients for a great juke joint experience. Special thanks for the whole week should go to Tim Porter and Bryn Williams for organising an eclectic and enjoyable selection of bands.

The Jigantics had a great gig at the Bath Fringe Festival and it was a real pleasure to perform in the Bell Inn again. I think the last time I played there was with the Dockery Boys back in the early ‘90s. It hasn’t changed – the sound is still great, the crowds large and enthusiastic and the beer fantastic! Hopefully we will be back there later in the year.

Last weekend the Sons of the Delta played two fantastic outdoor gigs in Spain. We had the pleasure of performing in one of the most beautiful venues that I for one have ever played at – El Patio de Arboles, Torreon de Lozoya in the historic town of Segovia. Visit the Sons of the Delta page on Facebook to see photos. The venue was in a small and very old courtyard which held about 300 people – quite an intimate and select location. We managed to play most of our hour and a quarter set before the rain started to fall and we had to come off stage. We were hoping the rain would stop and we could continue but thunder and lightning followed and that was the end of our performance. Fortunately the ticket price included as much cava and hot roasted almonds as you wanted and so the audience was happy enough after our hour of playing to get stuck in to the food and drink. The second gig, a five hour drive away, was at the Casa de Cultura in Gandia, a coastal town near Valencia. It was a much bigger venue with about 600 seats and this time the stage was covered and so rain wasn’t going to be a problem, although the seated area wasn’t covered. The rain stayed away thankfully. Before the show Rick and I were interviewed by Patricia for the Canal 7 TV station and we ended up playing an impromptu duo version of Few Short Lines. If I can get my hands of a copy of the finished thing I may share it with you.  It was a very hot humid night and I think we almost got as wet as if it had been raining anyway! After the show we drank a lot of water then joined the crowd in the garden bar for a few beers. Shame we can’t sit out til 3am in the UK in short sleeves and still feel warm.

In amongst all of the above I took a week out to relax in Fethiye, Turkey. There’s a great tent bar near the hotel with a fantastic traditional Turkish band and I spent many an hour eating great Turkish food, drinking Efes and enjoying the occasional hooka pipe. I couldn’t resist buying two musical instruments (last year I bought a saz) and I came home with a zurna and a cumbus. The zurna is a reed instrument very similar in sound to the classic snake charmer’s instrument and the cumbus (pronounced Choombush) is a 12 string fretless banjo with a deep aluminium bowl which makes it sound more like a 12 string resonator. I have no doubt that it will get used on a recording, maybe even a gig, at some stage in the near future.

Coming up over the next few weeks, a phone interview with Maverick music magazine at the weekend, two local Sons duo gigs and then the Southsea Folk and Roots Festival. Both the Sons of the Delta and the Jigantics have slots at the festival and I’m looking forward to catching up with my buddy Dave Arcari, hopefully while propping up the bar for a few hours after our respective gigs.

TASCAM 85-16B

It’s festival time and life is super hectic. Upton Blues Festival looked like it was going to be a very wet one – not as bad as the 2007 floods but wet enough. Early Saturday the heavens opened and let loose some pretty heavy downpours. Rick and I had a slot as Sons of the Delta at the festival playing on a river boat and had visions of us lashed to the deck with the wind and rain howling all around us. Fortunately the rain stopped at lunchtime and by the time we set sail it was sunny and dry. Our stage was below deck and indoors anyway and the emerging sun brought a good large and enthusiastic crowd on board for our one hour set. I enjoyed watching some of the other acts afterwards, especially Kevin Brown, but found myself agreeing with one festival goer who I overheard saying “for a blues festival there’s not much blues here”.

This week coming I’m going to be busy performing or supporting other bands at the 2011 Gloucester Rhythm and Blues Festival. Check out the schedule here at the Festival website. It’s mostly up to date but I should point out that there’s a Sons of the Delta Acoustic Duo gig at the Cross Keys Inn on Saturday 30th at 2pm (not listed) and the Sons of the Delta gig that same night at the Pig Inn is a full band gig, so for one night only the back room of the Pig Inn is going to be the nearest thing Gloucester has got to a Mississippi juke joint. If you live in the Gloucestershire area please come and support as much of this week-long festival as you can. It’s always fun!

A bit for the techies now, or anyone interested in old kit. In my last post I talked a bit about my thoughts on recording techniques. Well, I’m slowly putting together the equipment for an analogue recording studio and I am now the proud part-owner of the lovely piece of kit in the pic above. It’s a mid 1980s TASCAM 16 track 1″ tape machine. Needs some TLC by way of a good clean and a service but the heads are good and it came with a full service manual, something which by all accounts is as rare as rocking horse poop. The search is now on for a decent old 16-8-2 desk, some outboard units and a house with enough land or buildings to put the studio in!

See you at a gig soon!

Today's rain...

Well, so much for the summer weather here in the UK. The Jigantics were supposed to play at a festival in Stroud billed as Summer Music Day last Sunday and a phone call woke me up early that morning (early for a Sunday at least) to say it had been cancelled due to the high wind and torrential rain. Being ever the optimist I have to take the view that it was a good thing it was cancelled. There would have literally been no-one there to watch at all and we would probably have been soaked to the skin and our instruments damaged. As we are now getting deep into the festival season, and as both the Jigantics and the Sons of the Delta have open air festival slots this year, I can only hope the summer arrives pretty soon or it won’t be good for live music or my bank balance! Strangely, I wasn’t too bothered about the rain at a very warm 3am when the Sons were finishing our set at the Playa Viva Blues Festival in Gran Canaria but it did bother me when we played outdoors in heavy rain at the Upton Blues Festival a few years ago and one of the f-holes on my steel guitar just happened to be directly under a leaking tarpaulin which caused the guitar to fill with water…

The Sons of the Delta album, Made in Mississippi, has just been reviewed in Maverick magazine and received 4.5 out of 5. I haven’t read it yet but hopefully there will be some quote-worthy text we can use and the review might inject some freshness into the sales of what is now an ‘old’ album even though it’s our latest. Keep an eye on the Sons website or our FB page to see the review once I get my hands on it. We took out an ad to go with the review, so that should help us pick up a few more fans too.

Talking of Sons of the Delta albums, writing songs for the next one continues and it looks like it will keep the balance of the current album with regards to acoustic numbers and full band numbers. I personally like to mix it up a bit and as the Sons perform as a duo and a band it’s good to be able to represent the album at both types of gigs. I think the album may be recorded at a number of different studios, depending on the kit they have and whether they can accommodate the way I’d like to work on the album. I love the sound we recorded in Mississippi and I’d like to try to get a similar feel on this next CD, which means keeping the session as live as possible and using distant mic techniques. The shape and size of the room is very important so who knows, if we can’t find a studio that’s right we may have to find the location and set up the studio there. I’ve always preferred that kind of recording – one that has space, atmosphere and texture, rather than something sterile, clinical and over-produced. Good job that the former is very much in vogue at the moment, largely due to the great award-winning albums produced by T Bone Burnett over the last few years. And of course, the Jigantics still have more tracks to record to complete their debut CD plus I’m still slowly getting songs together for my (eventual) solo album.

What a surprise… it’s raining again.

The Shackup Inn, Clarksdale MS.

How long has it been since my last blog?!?!? Well, that’s life getting in the way. I’ve been too busy to keep on top of it. Having said that, this was always meant to be an irregular blog and this proves it.

The Sons of the Delta and the Jigantics have been busy rehearsing and gigging but the main highlight since my last posting is a recent trip to Clarksdale, MS, for the Juke Joint Festival. Rick came as well but unfortunately Ade and Marty couldn’t make it, so for our Sons of the Delta gig at the festival we were lucky enough to have the rhythm section of Stevie Myers from Ottawa’s Myers Brothers Blues Band on bass and Lee Andrew Williams Jnr, top Clarksdale drummer. Dave walker, the sax and harp player with one of my other bands the Maxwell Street Blues Band, came along for the trip and so did my sister Jan and my bro-in-law Derek. I was thrilled that they could make it as I’ve bent their ear over the years with tales of previous trips so it’s great that they were finally able to come over and get acquainted with the people and places first-hand.

It was wonderful to catch up with everyone – Mike and Stevie Myers and their families who I hadn’t seen since I was in Ottawa last October and all the Clarksdalians that I hadn’t seen for five years. Clarksdale has changed a lot since our last visit and it’s really good to see more businesses opening and surviving. The Shackup Inn has expanded and their plans to oversee the building of a community there, called Shacksdale, is very exciting. My waistline has expanded too unfortunately, thanks to the fantastic food in the deep South. Tamales, ribs, pulled pork, catfish. I’m drooling just thinking about it! As well as food I spent a few dollars on books and CDs at Roger Stolle’s excellent shop, Cat Head, and a few more on shoes and shirts at the Super Soul Shop. No-one bought any guitars on this trip but Dave did buy a wonderful little late ’40s National amp to blow harp through from Ronnie at Bluestown Music. Man, what a sound!

Apart from our own gig at the festival I had the honour of playing with the Myers Brothers Blues Band in their festival gig plus managed to jam with some of the locals and not-so-locals at the Club 2000 and at the end-of-festival jam in Red’s. There are plenty of photos and video was taken so if you keep an eye on my website, the Sons of the Delta website and YouTube you’ll see it appear over the next few weeks. Dave, Jan and myself have swapped all our media from the trip so there’s plenty of material to choose from. I should mention that when Dave came round to my place he left an old tenor sax for me to get to grips with over time. Be afraid, be very afraid…

I’m already looking forward to a return trip to Clarksdale next April or maybe even sooner. In the meantime I have plenty of gigs, festivals and a trip back to Ottawa in October to keep me busy. See you soon(ish)!

Sons of the Delta Duo - set up and ready

Got some songwriting done for the next Sons album – a funk number and an acoustic gospel style number. It would be great to get the album finished before we head over to Mississippi in April but I don’t think there will be time for that. We will just have to take plenty of postcards and push download sales. Can’t wait to get over there and catch up with friends we haven’t seen for ages, both our Clarksdale friends and the Myers Brothers band who will be down from Ottawa for the Juke Joint festival. I’m hoping to get plenty of video and photos to share with you, so look out for a new Mississippi montage video after we get back.

I’ve been buying some new gear for 2011. I picked up a great little Aria electro-acoustic classical guitar. The bridge needed re-glueing but it’s going to be perfect for recording and performing a few of my solo songs that I wrote last year. Also bought a Lone Wolf Blues pedal to play harp through when we’re gigging overseas and I have no choice which amp I use. The company makes pedals specifically designed from the ground up for harmonica players and I’ve gone for their Harp Attack model. Check them out here. I have a cheap and small tie-clip mic from Maplin which sounds amazingly good through this pedal, even directly into a PA, so the combination is ideal for air travel.

The first two gigs of 2011 went very well. Both Sons of the Delta duo gigs at smaller local venues and it was good to see such a big and enthusiastic turnout given the time of year. I suspect the fact that they were both after payday may have helped.

Right, that will do for now – I’m off to play with my new toys ;)

Icicles in a hedge

December started with a great ‘secret’ gig for the Jigantics in Gloucester at the Cross Keys Inn. Not too much of a secret as it turned out because the place was packed. Folklaw played a great opening set for us and we played an hour-long set of songs for an appreciative audience. In the new year we will be working on more material and fine tuning the set ready for a few more low-key gigs prior to the festival season.

The snow here forced us to cancel the Sons of the Delta pre-Christmas gig at the Lichfield Vaults in Hereford. A real shame as it’s a great little venue with fantastic food, wonderful beer and a warm audience, plus I hate having to cancel gigs. I’m proud to say that I can’t remember the last time I had to pull out of a gig. I’m a great believer in the ‘show must go on’ attitude but sometimes you just have to admit defeat. We plan to reschedule the Hereford gig for early in the new year. The two local open mics before Christmas went very well, despite the numbers being down on last year (snow again) and gave me a good live music top-up before the Christmas break which I spent with family. Too much to eat and drink as always, but a great time to relax and recharge my batteries before the busy administration month that is January.

So what’s in store for 2011? A week in Clarksdale, Mississippi, with the Sons of the Delta Band performing at the Juke Joint Festival, more dates in Spain, a debut album and lots of festival gigs with the Jigantics, a new album with Sons of the Delta, more solo recording, lots of songwriting, open mic hosting and the over-due debut of Southern Collision. It’s going to be a busy year and that’s the way (aha, aha) I like it ;) Oh, and also I’ll be learning to play the wonderful Mahalo electric uke which I was given for Christmas.

Happy New Year everyone! Thanks for your support in 2010 and I hope 2011 is a happy, healthy and prosperous year for you all.

Worlds Rarest Funk 45s Vol 2

Another busy week – aren’t they all? Mostly off-stage but there’s always plenty to do like website updates, booking gigs, maintenance of leads, guitars, harps, amps, etc. In this day and age a regular gigging musician has as much to do behind the scenes, if not more, as they do in the public face. When I say ‘regular’ I mean the ones that mostly manage themselves and don’t have an entourage taking care of everything for them, so in other words probably 95% or more of musicians out there.

Since getting back from Gran Canaria I’ve been tracking down photos and video from the Sons of the Delta performance at the Playa Viva Blues Festival and letting everyone know about it via Facebook, our website and my own website. In case you still managed to miss it, here are the links – the videos are here and there are some great photos here and also here. I’ll let you know if any more surface. I was so taken with the little amp I played through at the festival, provided by Alberto of the excellent Los Gumbo blues band, that I decided to find one for myself. I should warn those of you of a non-technical persuasion that the rest of this paragraph may get a little boring for you ;) Alberto’s amp was a combo but I managed to find a head and cab on eBay for a great price. It’s a Harley Benton GA5H, made in the same factory using the same parts as the acclaimed Epiphone Valve Junior. The plan is to modify the head to voice it for the harmonica and also add a line-out, a switch to drop it from 5w to 2w and various other tweaks. My soldering iron has already been busy and I want to have the work finished in time for our next overseas gig as the head is coming with me in my hand luggage (yes, it’s just small enough). “I love the smell of solder in the morning”, to mis-quote a famous film line.

I have had a few gigs this week and especially enjoyed the Sons of the Delta acoustic duo gig at the Golden Fleece in Stroud. They didn’t have the open fire roaring – it’s not quite cold enough for that yet – but it still had the intimate, cosy country living room feel that it always has. I would challenge any musician to feel pressured or nervous in such a warm welcoming and homely venue. We do tend to end up playing a fairly laid-back set there but it seems to fit the bill perfectly. I must also mention that the Jigantics had a great rehearsal this week and worked on an interpretation of a Tom Waits song to add to the set.

One last mention of the Gran Canarian gig. After sound checking we had a coffee outside a bar very near the festival stage and heard the most fantastic funk music coming out from behind the bar. The guy making the coffees was dancing away to himself and I couldn’t help tuning in to the sounds. I found out what the CD was and I bought one on eBay. It’s so good that I’ve got to share it with you. Not literally of course – go and buy your own! The photo above of the cover tells you all you need to know to track it down.