THE BLUES MATTERS! STAGE AT JAKS

FRIDAY:

8.30pm – 10.00pm

ROSCOE LEVEE

Southern tinged Blues/rock/Americana, a band that’s on the rise!

10.30pm – 12.00pm

ALEX McKOWN BAND

A young and upcoming act that’s making a name for himself on the blues circuit.

12.30pm – 2.00am

Zoe Schwarz Blue Commotion

Stunning musicianship and vocal skills.

SATURDAY AFTERNOON:

12:45pm – 4.00pm

ROADHOUSE Jam sessions

The ever popular ‘ROADHOUSE Jam sessions’ have become synonymous with this super weekend and always in great demand and very well supported, including short sets by Roadhouse themselves to start and close.

SATURDAY NIGHT:

8.30pm – 10.00pm

DOVE& BOWEEVIL BAND

From wildest Norfolk with their own brand of Blues’n’roots to thrill and entertain!

10.30pm – 12.00pm

Innes Sibun

He’s toured the USA in Robert Plant’s band, topped major festivals across Europe with his own band, and is one of the finest electric blues guitarists in the UK.

SATURDAY NIGHT:

12.30pm – 2.00pm

STEVE ROUX’S WHITE

KNUCKLES BLUES BAND

A welcome return! Fans of Jaks have been asking for Steve after he whipped up a storm at last years’festival.

SUNDAY AFTERNOON ACOUSTIC:

12.00 – 1.00

DOVE& BOWEEVIL DUO

1.15pm – 2.15pm

MATT WOOSEY

With a solid album behind him Matt demonstrates his solo skills for you.

2.30pm – 3.30pm

ZOE SCHWARTZ& ROB KORAL

SUNDAY NIGHT:

8.30pm – 10.00pm

ROADHOUSE

Festival staples return with tracks from their new album Gods and Highways and Old Guitars

10.30pm – 12.00pm

The LITTLE DEVILS

Hold on to your hats for a bit of a skirmish!

12.30pm – 2.00am

JO HARMAN BAND

2013 saw Jo perform at Jaks in the acoustic slot and you wanted her back... so here she is with the full band after an amazing year, as a thank you to close the Blues Matters! stage.

Bonfire Night has come and gone. With many guys burned we bring you a guy that does the burning instead! Yep, in this issue we talk to the legendary Buddy Guy. We also climbed mountains to bring you Woodstock veteran Leslie West who talks about his latest release.

Then we go roaming around this musical world of ours to bring you the rising Ori Naftaly from Israel, Eric Ter from France, Irish legend Ronnie Greer, ISC award winner Steve Strongman from Canada, Watermelon Slim from the USA, plus the home-grown Babajack.

We also bring you the 2013 BM Writers’ Poll Results. From the winners of the Best Newcomers section we were able to nominate David Migden & The Dirty Words (now known as David Migden & The Twisted Roots) to represent the UK at the European Blues Union Blues Challenge in Riga, Latvia on 11-12th April 2014. A brief message from David and the band: “Massive thanks to all the writers of Blues Matters! who put the band and I forward for this prestigious event. This is a great launching pad for our music.You’ve backed the right horse!”

We wish all of you the very best of Christmases and look forward to a New Year and the new music it will hold for us all. Oh, and remember... Having no clue where we are going means that we will never be lost, at least not for long!

WE arE SparTaCUS!

Your feedback to: editor@bluesmatters.com www.bluesmatters.com

Po box 18, bridgend, cF33 6yW. uk tel: 00-44-(0)1656-745628

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PRoDuCTIoN AND DEsIGN: MarTIN COOK aND MIKE ThOMaS

IT/WEB MANAGEMENT: SIMON DrINg simon@bluesmatters.com sTAND MANAGER: ChrISTINE MOOrE christine@bluesmatters.com

PRooF READING: pETEr SIMMONDS prINTErS: Pensord

CONTrIBUTINg phOTOgraphErS: christine moore, liz aiken, annie Goodman, jennifer noble others credited on page CONTrIBUTINg WrITErS: liz aiken, roy bainton, adam bates, adrian blacklee, bob bonsey, eddy bonte, Dave butler, colin campbell, bob chaffey, martin cook, norman Darwen, lauren Dove, Dave Drury, hugh Fielder, barry Fisch, linda Fisher, sybil Gage, nick Garner, Diane Gillard, stuart a. hamilton, brian harman, natalie harrap, Gareth hayes, trevor hodgett, billy hutchinson, Peter innes, brian kramer, Frank leigh, mike lightfoot, Geoff marston, ian mchugh, christine moore, jennifer noble, martin ‘noggin’ norris, merv osborne, mike owens, iain Patience, Frankie Pfeiffer, clive rawlings, sarah reeve, Darrell sage, Paromita saha, Pete sargeant, Dave ‘the bishop’ scott, Graeme scott, Peter simmons, andy snipper, ashwyn smyth, Dave stone, suzanne swanson, richard thomas, kevin ‘legs’ Walker, tom Walker, Dave Ward, Daryl Weale, kevin Wharton, iain young, steve yourglovich.

© 2013 BlUES

MaTTErS! Original material in this magazine is © the authors. Reproduction may only be made with prior consent of the Editor and provided that acknowledgement is given of the source and copy is sent to the editorial address. Care is taken to ensure that the contents of this magazine are accurate but the publishers

Regulars

06

HAPPENIN’

Keeping you up to date with all the news from the Blues. Horace Panter paints it blue, we take the road to Siberia and meet DJ Dave Watkins.

18

20

102

112

BluEs ToP 10

Will Wilde Talks about the Blues songs that have influenced his career.

KITCHAT

Dave Ward dives in to the world of music equipment and this time he examines a steel and brass legend.

RED lICK ToP 20

Red Lick Records presents their best selling blues albums.

RMR BluEs ToP 50

The Roots Music Report independent airplay chart. Where music matters!

INTERVIEWS

28

32

36

40

RoNNIE GREER

One of the justifiable legends of the Northern Ireland music scene.

ERIC TER

His artistic approach is becoming more guided by his imagination.

VAsTI JACKsoN sTEVE sTRoNGMAN

A force to be reckoned with in the world of the blues.

His music speaks for truth and passion, and offers hope for the soul in the face of hard times.

44

WATERMEloN slIM

If my plane went down tomorrow, I’d go out on top!

50 BABAJACK

62

68

78 oRI NAFTAlY

Mesmerising grooves, seriously atmospheric.

All the way from Israel and flying the blues flag high.

AYNslEY lIsTER lEslIE WEsT

When explosive natural ability collides with fiery, emotionally charged compositions.

Leslie West has been a creative force for over three decades.

Features

84

90 uNDER THE RADAR

Brother Dege Legg. A darker shade of the blues from the Bayou.

REsoNATING THE BluEs

Steel yourselves! Our second look at the world of the Resonator.

Reviews

97 AlBuMs

114 sHoWTIME

Including, Joe Bonamassa, GT’s Boos Band, Cyril Neville, Lewis Hamilton, Kirsten Thien and more...

Festival and Gig highlights from around the world. Blues on the Farm, Bentworth, Boogaloo and more...

all the blues that’s Fit to Print, From arounD the WorlD

Gypie Mayo

As we were going to press for this edition the sad news reached us of the passing of John ‘Gypie’ Mayo on October 23rd.

Born in 1951, John had been brought into Dr. Feelgood in 1977 as the permanent replacement for Wilko Johnson and was quickly given the nickname ‘Gypie’ by Lee Brilleaux, due to his frequent bouts of ill-heath. The nickname stuck with him ever since. Gypie stayed in Feelgood for four years and co-wrote their only top ten hit, Milk And Alcohol. He also played for The Yardbirds and worked with Jeff Beck, Brian May, Steve Vai, Slash and many others. In later years Gypie was renowned as a guitar tutor in the Bath and Bristol area. He will be greatly missed by the U.K. blues community.