Visiting Acts:
Right now, the King Snakes are a refreshing mixture of (relative) youth and experience. The experience starting at the top, for Paul Lamb has spent the last thirty-some years whoopin' and hollerin' in clubs in his native North-East plus a later move to London, in concert and on festival stages, creating a personal synthesis of his harmonica heroes and his own unique and innate talent. His history includes representing Britain in the World Harmonica Championships, working with his particular mentor, Sonny Terry, and with any number of other blues artists who've visited these shores.
Last playing in Shetland nine years ago the band return as vocalist and rhythm guitarist Chad Strentz, bass player and vocalist Rod Demick, drummer Sonny Below and the youngest and the latest recruit is Ryan “Junior” Lamb. Having the legendary harmonica player, Mr Paul Lamb, as his father, you could say he was born to play the blues. However make no mistake - it's because of his outstanding guitar talent, rather than nepotism that landed Junior the job of lead guitarist in the King Snakes in 2007.
Steve Phillips makes a return after playing the first Shetland Blues Festival in 2004. He returns to Shetland as part of a tour of the UK to celebrate his 60th birthday by playing as many different places in the UK as possible. Steve is an outstanding acoustic guitar player and famous for being a member of the Notting Hillbillies along with Mark Knopfler and Brendan Croker.
When it comes to the blues, The Lyndon Anderson Band have all the bases covered, wether it’s a 1950’s Chess classic, a chunk of 70’s funk, a rocking Texas shuffle, jazz influenced west coast swing or one of their many originals, they play it all with style, authority and taste.
Having performed at some of the most prestigious music festivals, including Edinburgh Jazz Festival, The Great British R&B Festival, and the Stanley Blues Festival, performing to an audience of over 15,000, as well as countless bars and clubs, they are winning new fans at every turn.
The band are fronted by Lyndon Anderson (Vocals, harp and guitar), Davey Dormand (Guitar), Christine Wilson (Bass) and Kevin Hodge (Drums).
BLACK RIVER BLUESMAN and THE CROAKING LIZARD
From Finland the Black River Bluesman and the Croaking Lizard play their Blues in the deep woods and swamps of the muddy Black River Delta way up North in cold Finland. Their unrefined, electric and hypnotic Blues have been compared to the rough sounds of the Mississippi Hill Country artists as well as to anything between Tom Waits and Jim Morrison or psychoblues and garage. Whatever the influences may be, they play their Blues with no compromises just the way they feel.
Jim Murray and Pete Mason are happy to be – The Hokum Hotshots...Hokum is ‘blues with a smile on its face’ and the Hotshots do it very well . . .
Instruments played include vocals (2), Steel National and Dobro Horizontal Guitars, Mandolin, Tiple (a 10 stringed South American instrument), ukulele, and acoustic 6 stringed guitars.
That makes a total of over 50 available strings, of which most are hit in the right order.
The musical influences range from field hollers, through ragtime, vaudeville, country blues, jazz and swing, through to the urban blues of the 1940s. Add to this compositions sympathetic to the tradition and a large dash of humour and you get close to defining the music that is The Hokum Hotshots.
Daniel Smith is one of the most exciting talents to emerge on the British blues scene in recent years. In 1994, he first shot to prominence with Sonny Black, gaining rave reviews from press, audiences and fellow musicians alike. 2000 saw him launch his own solo career and form The Daniel Smith Blues Band.
Virtuoso live performances, his acclaimed debut album 'Southside Boogie' - re-released in 2006, BBC Radio sessions, several Edinburgh International Jazz & Blues Festival appearances as well as appearances on the European festival circuit have earned him as string of nominations as Best UK Blues Keyboardist.
Add to this his dry, laid-back, on-stage humourand an absolute killer band - (featuring some of Britain's finest, most experienced musicians) - and you have a class act invoking a genuine sense of the old-time, good-time barrelhouse and speakeasy.
Cherry Lee Mewis, a 5ft-nothing-22-year-old-white girl from North Wales, is the real deal. She’s added her own fresh perspective to blues 'n' roots music with her album, ‘Little Girl Blue’, a mixture of 'forgotten', obscure blues tracks, adding a raw, unplugged feel teaming up with multi-faceted guitarist Max Milligan and producer and former Argent singer, John Verity.
Both Max and John's wealth of experience work brilliantly with Cherry’s fresh approach. Resulting in a mix of warm, vintage, gut-bucket blues with rootsy sparse guitar style, covering songs by Memphis Minnnie, Robert Johnson and Jeff Buckley, these 20's blues numbers have still been left in their original, impassioned state, at the same time leaving Cherry's fingerprints on them.
Cherry served her apprenticeship endlessly gigging in clubs and bars developing not only her powerful soulful voice, but her performance and style too.
After Hours R&B Revue, a ten piece band from Thurso, was formed around ten years ago and has developed its own unique brand of Blues / Jazz based R&B. Strongly influenced by early 50’s and 60’s Rhythm & Blues artists such as Ray Charles, Fats Domino and Little Richard the band also draws on the Stax and Atlantic soul styles of Otis Redding and Wilson Pickett. The repertoire includes original songs as well as more recent influences such as Eric Clapton and Stevie Ray Vaughn.
After Hours have toured extensively from Orkney to Gloucester and from the Hebrides to Aberdeen. They have played three times at the Great British Blues Festival in Lancashire and other notable venues include the Skye Beer Festival, The Donside Ball and Hootenanny’s in Inverness, the Orkney Blues Festival, The Highland Festival and the Newmarket Bar in Thurso.
Local Acts include:
Rumshack Blues Band
Donald Anderson Band
Jamieson's Big Pockets
Red Hot and Blue
more to be announced