This was a remarkable evening with a
galaxy of British Blues musicians who had come together on the 25th
Anniversary of the passing of Muddy Waters to celebrate the man and
his music. Muddy is one of the pantheons of "blues greats"
that include Robert Johnson, Son House and Howling Wolf. For the
purposes of cohesion John O'Leary had created a house band to provide
the underpinning to what turned out to be a great night with some
wonderful combinations of musicians. The house band consisted of John
O'Leary on harmonica and vocals, Alan Glen on guitar,harmonica and
vocal, Big Al Vincent on guitar, Glyn Evans on bass, Jamie Rowan on
keyboards and Joachim Greve on drums . Among the invited guests were
Giles Hedley on guitar, harmonica and vocal, Shakey Vick on harmonica
and vocal, Laurie Garman, harmonica, Otis Grand on guitar, Dave Dix
on harmonica and Dave Raphael on harmonica.
The evening started appropriately in
the Delta with Giles Hedley playing acoustic guitar and rack
harmonica on "Louisiana Blues" and the "I Be's
Troubled", both from the Alan Lomax recordings at Stovall's
Plantation. Then Giles invited Laurie Garman up to play harmonica on
"Your Gonna Miss Me"(When I'm Dead and Gone)", all
played with the gravitas and the authenticity you come to expect from
these two fine musicians.
The house band got up to back
John O'leary playing harmonica and singing on "Young
Fashioned Ways" with fine guitar from Alan Glen. Then Shakey
Vick fronted the band on vocal and harmonica to perform "Crossroads"
and "Standin' Aroung Crying". Alan Glen then sang
on "Divin' Duck Blues" with great work from Laurie
Garman on harmonica and Big Al Vincent on guitar. Alan Glen sang on
"King Bee" with fine harmonica work from Laurie. John
O'Leary then fronted the band on "Drifting Blues" and the
frenetic first set finished with Dave Dix playing harmonica
on "Hoochie Coochie Man".
The second set again started in
the Delta style with Giles Hedley playing Son House's "Sun Going
Down", Willie Brown's "Future Blues" and playing two
harmonicas at once on "You Can't Hide From God". Otis
Grand then featured on guitar with Alan Glen singing and playing
harmonica on "Recnsider Baby" and the insouciant "Talk
To Your Daughter". This was followed by Shakey Vick on harmonica
and vocal playing "Walking Blues" and "Blues With a
Feeling". I was then invited up to playm harmonica on "She's
19 Years Old" with John O'Leary on vocal. John O'Leary fronted
on "Rock Me" and "Little By Little" (with Laurie
Garman on harmonica). Then John fronted on "I Got My Mojo
Workin" with full on audience participation. The finale saw
John in turn introduce the Laurie Garman, Shakey Vick, Dave Raphael,
Alan Glen and Giles Hedleyin and finished with a harmony vocal from
the enemble. What a night!.....Bill Smith