Sat 1 April
The Musician
Tony Alles Bluesville
featuring P.J. Baker

With his deep, rich voice and skilful electric and acoustic guitar talent, local blues man Tony Alles shows his deep love and appreciation for the blues, bringing a fresh and innovative sound to the genre As well as original material, he reworks classic blues standards into funky, high octane shuffles. He is joined by renowned Nottingham harmonica player and vocalist P.J. Baker, Big Wayne Hogan on upright and electric bass and Jewellers Eye mainman Graham Summers on drums.
     
Sun 2 April
The Musician
Deltahead
www.deltahead.net
"Deltahead's live act is totally unique. A two piece from Stockholm, Sweden, they both sit at 28" Ludwig bass drums, separated by a radiogram type bass speaker emanating Daliesque horns. Benjamin then plays a stand up bass sitting down and David plays slide guitar, while they both sing and drum simultaneously with radio interference and occasional washboard! Has to be seen to be believed. Punk Blues Noir!"
   
Wed 5 April
The Musician
Mike Dowling
www.mikedowling.com
If fine blues, bottleneck, and ragtime are your thing, don't pass up Mike Dowling. His singing and guitar playing are as natural as oak cask fermentation, leading to a heady brew that is truly pure of spirit. Fluid and precise as a guitarist, his gritty vocals have a sense of playfulness and bounce that's very appealing. He plays country blues, but throws in some really nice jazz and country swing, and covers a spectrum from Mississippi John Hurt to Wynonie Harris to The Delmore Brothers with better known items as Mean Old Frisco and Key To The Highway thrown in for good measure.
     
Thu 6 April
The Donkey
Dan Britton
homepage
Dan Britton is a dynamic singer-songwriter with an amazing power in live performance. He blends US West Coast, hints of Irish and Country, roots and rock into his own unique style. Go and see Dan perform solo, with his band, or as a duo with Chris Conway and you'll come out a fan. He has played with Jackie Leven and Cathy Lesurf and has supported the likes of the Bob Geldof, Frances Black, Roy Wood.The Saw Doctors, The Incredible String Band, and Dick Gaughan. He has released several nationally acclaimed albums. A passionate performer, his powerful voice and stage presence immediately attracts attention.

 
Joel Evans
www.joelevans.co.uk
Joel Evans’ music has drawn comparisons with the likes of Paul Weller, Gin Blossoms, Neil Finn and The Eels. Joel’s first cd Different World was released in 2000. Despite a lack of promotion and a distinctly home-made feel it still managed to generate some very positive reviews. Work began on a follow-up in 2002. Two-and-a-half years later the completed album Wired finally arrived. During this time many of the original songs were ditched or re-written, parts re-recorded, lyrics and directions changed and on several occasions everything ground to a halt. However, there's no doubt that the ten tracks that survived were worth the wait as Wired loaded with infectious melodies, well-crafted arrangements, and apparently simple songs that gradually open up to reveal hidden depths.
   
Fri 7 April
The Y Theatre
Colin Blunstone & Rod Argent
of The Zombies

The Zombies burst onto the sixties scene with their chart topping debut “She’s Not There,” the first of many distinctive tracks. After nearly 30 years of separate careers, Colin Blunstone and Rod Argent reunited at London’s Jazz Café in the late ’90s and now they’re on the road again with their new band. Expect the hits of The Zombies and the cream of their solo years including Argent’s classic anthem God Gave Rock And Roll To You.
     
Fri 7 April
The Musician
Dawson & The Dissenters
www.dawsonsmith.com
Rockin' blues and roots from this eclectic and electrifying band. Featuring consummate frontman Dawson Smith and the guitar wizardry of Simon Faulks both of whom deliver superb original songs and powerhouse vocals. Expect material from Dawson's two excellent solo albums, Valley Boy and the newly released, blues based album The River Road plus
a selection of well chosen blues and roots classics from the likes of Lucinda Williams, C.C. Adcock and John Hiatt.
     
Sun 9 April
The Musician
Derrin Nauendorf
www.derrinnauendorf.com
Renowned for his intense live shows and raw emotive music, Derrin Nauendorf’s music is hard to categorise,made up from many roots styles, blues, folk and Americana. Untamed acoustic guitar, cutting lyrics, a powerful, evocative voice and honest songs, delivered with passion, but twisted to a unique sound. “First impressions? One Australian guy with an acoustic guitar and his mate with a homemade drum kit. What would you think? Me too. I then listened to this live album and Derrin, guitar, sidekick and drums proceeded to blow me away.” – David Blue, Net Rhythms.
 

Kevin Thorpe
www.bluearmadillo.com
Former Out of The Blue frontman Kevin Thorpe's music is firmly rooted in the song writing styles of artists like Willie Dixon, Little Willie John, Ry Cooder, John Hiatt, Dr John and Lowell George. The result, powerful versions of songs by these writers and his own acclaimed material, saw Out of The Blue applauded as innovators, a band whose 'chops' were displayed alongside great songs, making them unique and influential on the British and European club and festival circuits.

   
Wed 12 April
The Musician
Paul Rishell & Anne Raines
www.paulandannie.com
Guitarist Paul Rishell and harmonica player Anne Raines base their ensemble playing style on close communication, listening keenly to other players to support rather than overshadow them, and their duo work is also marked by this sensitive interplay that has become central to their live performances. Although they have become known for their close attention to pre-war acoustic blues styles, Paul and Annie first found their musical common ground in Chicago/Texas-style electric blues. Their 2000 release Moving to the Country (2000), won them the W.C. Handy Award for "Acoustic Blues Album of the Year."

 
The Blues Devils
Three of Leicester’s finest blues talents have joined forces to create an extraordinary acoustic blues trio, which has been performing some storming gigs over the past twelve months. Together Mick Ridgeway (Mojo Hand), Bob Dayfield (Dr Bobs) and Tony Alles (Bluesville) combine three voices, acoustic & slide guitars and blues harp to breathe new life into a great selection of homegrown songs and well-loved standards.
   
Thu 13 April
The Musician
Big Bill Morganfield
www.bigbillmorganfield.net
"Chicago blues is a powerful force in the right hands, which, in this case, belong to the son of Muddy Waters. The comparisons are inevitable, but the big man is up to the challenge." - Entertainment Weekly.   As the son of one of the most influential musicians of the 20th Century, Bill meets many of the burdensome expectations placed upon him. His father's legacy lives on in the tools of his art, Big Bill has both Muddy's touring amp and guitars. More importantly, Bill carries Muddy's spirit and love for the blues. Bill won the 2000 W. C. Handy Award for "Best New Blues Artist".

 
Ian Siegal Band
www.iansiegal.com

“You should be very proud to have this young man in your own country. You have someone right here who can really sing the Deep Blues. He’s got church in his voice. If my Daddy was alive today he'd say ‘That's my Boy!’" - Big Bill Morganfield (Muddy Waters’ son). “Grounded in tradition, airborne by imagination, this is one of the most inventive blues recordings ever made by a British artist.” - MOJO magazine Feb 2006. “The closest thing I’ve heard to Chester Burnett” - Jeff Beck “His lyrics are several notches above the usual Blues fare, displaying rare wit and originality” - Blues Revue. As well as opening tonights show with his band Ian will join Big Bill on stage later in the evening.

   
Sat 15 April
Borders
David Wyatt
www.davidwyatt.net
David Wyatt, singer-songwriter, emerged onto the acoustic scene with his debut album 'China on Paper Planes'. His voice is powerful, evocative and emotive, with soaring dynamics covering four octaves through which he delivers a myriad of beautifully melodic and sometimes quirky songs, complimented by his honest guitar style. What's refreshing in contrast to this is his humorous and slightly eccentric approach as a live performer. Which makes David, although working in the same contemporary songwriter field as David Gray, Damien Rice and James Blunt, very much his own man.

     
Sat 15 April
The Criterion
Jezz Hall
www.jezzhall.com
Nottingham based singer-songwriter Jezz Hall, rather disconcertingly offers Black Sabbath’s Tony lommi as his guitar hero and ’60s psychedelia as his primary influence. The biggest part of his musical education though, came during a year out from his American studies course, which he spent exploring the Mississippi delta. He'd been attempting to write for several years beforehand but the Mississippi experience really fired him to make a serious move into establishing himself as a singer/songwriter, infusing his interest in English traditional styles with his fascination for jazz, blues and American roots music.
     
Sat 15 April
The Shed
Gabby Young
www.gabbyyoung.com
"If Ani di Franco had sex with Jeff Buckley in 1920 while on acid listening to Ella Fitzgerald, that would be the wonderful music of Gabby Young." On the scale of things, Gabby Young's voice is way off the scale. In fact, there aren't any scales broad enough for a vocal range that would melt marble at a hundred paces. One minute she's whispering and you feel the need to cry; the next she's growling and you can't believe the notes she hits are humanly possible. One of the youngest singers ever invited to join the National Youth Choir of Great Britain, Gabby's soulful shimmering voice is so powerful it leaves you breathless, whilst her starkly original lyrics burn deep into the memory.

 
Michelle Lewis
www.michellelewismusic.com
If you meet Michelle before you hear her music, you might be surprised to find out she plays folk. She doesn't fit the profile. She quotes Homer Simpson before Paul Simon. She drives fast. She throws snowballs. She talks loud, she eats meat, and if you leave the mayonnaise off her sandwich she might try to fight you. If you hear Michelle's music before you meet her, you might be surprised at her exuberance. Her songs throw you against a wall. They kick you out of the house and walk around naked. They call up to heaven. They crumble at your feet. Michelle's music is caring, vivacious and completely authentic. Watch her perform and you will understand.
     
Sat 15 April
The Musician
Ian Wills & The Willing
www.ianwillsandthewilling.com
Ian’s Wills journey from childhood tearaway to successful entrepreneur and original street poet, is a movie waiting to be made. Live Wills’ lyrics/poems are offset by music from his collaborative partners ‘The Willing’, who feature Jesse Wood (Ron Wood’s son) on guitar. Their music supports and adds theatre to the words, shifting from ‘The Wall’ era Pink Floyd to funk laden grooves reminiscent of Parliament or underlining the weighty comparisons of Ian Wills to Ian Dury. Is this a band? Is this poetry? Is this a kind of musical or rock opera? All we can say is that it is the modern storytelling of everyday people’s, everyday struggles.

 
Country Joe McDonald (solo)
www.countryjoe.com
“And it’s one-two-three what are you waitin’ for?” Country Joe MacDonald was a charter member of the San Francisco hippie hall of fame. He was right there with Janis Joplin, Grace Slick, Skip Spence and Jerry Garcia and the rest of the dudes and dudettes who made the San Fransico Bay Area so vibrant (stoned?) in the mid-to-late ’60s. With Country Joe And The Fish, he made music that espoused his political views through experimental acid rock and good-timey, folk sing-along songs that had them all joining in at Monterey and Woodstock. ‘And it’s five-six-seven, isn’t it really great?” Country Joe is coming to bring a genuine blast of hippie sunshine to The Musician. You could resist the draft, but you can’t resist Country Joe.
   
Sun 16 April
The Musician
Buster James
www.busterjames.com
Formed in the late ‘70s Buster James have been thrilling crowds all over the UK and Europe with their own energetic brand of blues and boogie for two decades. A blistering live act, their line-up contains players who have performed and recorded with artists as diverse as Steve Marriot, Dire Straits, Dave Stewart, Mungo Jerry, FM and Iron Maiden. This inventive and exciting band has six available CD’s of mainly self-penned material as well as unique versions of classics such as Fleetwood Mac’s “Oh Well” and Neil Youngs “Rocking in the Free World”.
   
Tue 18 April
The Musician
The Black Diamond Heavies
www.blackdiamondheavies.com
We like our Southern blues-rockers bestial and destructive and the Black Diamond Heavies slam together piano, harp, slide guitar and drums, growling and spewing with as much poison as bourbon in their blood. Their sound is homicidally distorted and their songs, guttural, juke-joint blues, the kind that shake the moonshine from your ass pocket and transform your fists into the devil sign, aren't immune to the trite sway of nostalgia and romanticism. Those craving no-bass electro-blues could do much worse than the Heavies, but consider yourself warned: By comparison, the White Stripes are a hipster minstrel show.

 
Jawbone
www.dangblues.com
Jawbone is over-driven 12 Volt DC enhanced non-oscillating six string harmonicanized slide-blues holler stomps of 2-Headed Dogs Hands With 6 Fingers, Tombstone Chevys, Japanese Zeros, Holy Coca-Cola Donkey Oil, The German Flu Deathbed Redemption Russian Coal Mine - Amen. Or, to put it another way, Jawbone is a one-man-band blues assault from Detroit that has a sound that strips the Blues to its bare-bones with a primeval stomp that's the missing link between Lightning Hopkins, Zoot Horn Rollo and The White Stripes.

 
The Dirty Backbeats
www.thedirtybackbeats.co.uk
Leicester based psychedelic, blues, punk, rock and roll band The Dirty Backbeats have been kicking about since 2003. Now playing around the country with acts such as Vincent Vincent & The Villains, "They sound like the Kings Of Leon meets the Sensational Alex Harvey Band with a bit of The Coral thrown in." - Steve Lamacq - BBC 6 Music 2005, or "Like a gypsy circus troupe with a rabid Jack White ringmaster. The Dirty Backbeats act like they're the first to grow their hair and play awesome psychedelic garage rock." - The Fly 2005. "Manically brilliant live with original killer tunes that make you wanna rock n roll." - Luke Wilkins - Kerrang! Radio 2005.

   
Wed 19 April
The Musician
The Stevie Nimmo Band
www.bluearmadillo.com
Over the past decade, as one half of The Nimmo Brothers, Stevie Nimmo has earned the respect of audiences all over the world. Held in high regard by his peers, he is rightly considered as one of the finest blues musicians on the scene today. Though brother Alan who was the more dynamic performer of the siblings in The Nimmo Brothers show, Stevie however brought a certain depth, emotion and above all songwriting power to this extraordinary partnership that saw them captivate and enthral audiences on both sides of the Atlantic. 
   
Tue 25 April
The Musician
Geoff Muldaur
www.geoffmuldaur.com
One of the great voices to emerge from the folk/blues scenes centred in Cambridge, MA and Woodstock, during the '60s. Geoff made a series of influential recordings with Paul Butterfield's Better Days, his then wife Maria and notables such as Bonnie Raitt and Jerry Garcia. He dropped out of sight in the mid-1980's for a working sabbatical, but continued, to hone his craft, 'flying beneath radar'.  "His voice - reedy, quavering, otherworldly - is so unusual that the music he sings becomes little more than a context, a jumping-off point." - the New York Times   "There are only three white blues singers, and Geoff Muldaur is at least two of them." - Richard Thompson
     
Wed 3 May
De Montfort Hall
Dr John & The Lower 911
Dr John is universally celebrated as the living embodiment of the rich musical heritage exclusive to New Orleans.  His dry, gravel cackle is one of the most infectious sounds in both jazz and popular music. During his career, which started half a century ago, he has worked with countless stars, including The Band, Eric Clapton, Mick Jagger, Sonny and Cher, Van Morrison and Aretha Franklin. Having won Grammy awards in 1989, 1992, 1996 and 2000, Mac 'Dr John' Rebennack will always be a musician who never ceases to explore the endless possibilities that music presents. A true living legend.