Lots of change here, Including a new entry at #1; with a bullet as they say

http://www.billboard.com/#/charts/blues-albums

New Brunswick Battle of the Blues Bands: All the winners

You can find a list of all the winners (and runners up) at http://www.facebook.com/NewBrunswickBattleoftheBlues

The voting for the single runner-up who will appear in the final on 29th March (100 Club, Oxford Street, London) will start at www.tourismnewbrunswick.co.uk on 1st Feb.  Voting open 'til 28th Feb.  Go on!!!

New Track added to BiTS Player

There is a new track by Tracie Redding and 'Brad' Bradbury on the BiTS music player on the opening page of www.bluesinthesouth.com   Enjoy.

The current  music is:
I Won't Lie - Clare Free
Dark Was The Night, Cold Was The Ground - Ian McKenzie
Baffled By The Blues - Dave Sugarbeet and the Last Gasp Blues Band
Stranger Blues - Mario Aguierre
Must Of Been An Angel  - Stompin' Dave
Work Your Magic -Jan Harrington with the Kenn Lending Blues Band
Ain't But One Thing - The Kenn Lending Blues Band with Champion Jack Dupree
Real Love is Free - Tracie Redding and Brad Bradbury

If you have got music free of copyright hassle that you'd like to have put here, contact editor at bluesinthesouth.com

Southampton Heat of Battle of The Blues Bands

The Concorde Club in Eastleigh near Southampton is a music venue with a long, long history of hosting some of the top jazz names in the world. The nearby Ellington Lodge is named after jazz great Duke Ellington and all the rooms are named after musicians.  In the club and its associated restaurant, there are dozens of photos of jazzmen and women and some of them are great guitarists, Diz Dizley, Herb Ellis,  Barney Kessell and others. The blues men and women who appeared at the club on Monday 24th in the southern heat of the Battle of the Blues Bands competition for a place on the Fredricton, New Brunswick, Canada, Harvest Jazz and Blues Festival, had no need to feel intimidated by those names; without exception they held their own and in some cases were simply outstanding.

The evening was opened by Lee George, one of the organisers of the competition (there are five heats around the country and a final in London on 29th March) who started the proceedings by welcoming the bands and making the  very welcome announcement that the process was non profit making and that any proceeds would be donated to the charity Veterans Aid. That includes sales of tickets for the final which are  available for £ 8 in advance or £10 on the night with all proceeds going to Veterans Aid. Tickets can be purchased here: http://www.the100club.co.uk/ or herehttp://www.wegottickets.com/event/106939 .


Each band was assigned 20 minutes and they were expected to mix own originals with covers. The order of performers was drawn by lot. 

Richard Clarke

First up was the Richard Clark Trio who gave use a set that was stunning in its technical ability.  Clarke is a fine guitar player with a super tone and was ably accompanied by Alexander Comley on bass and Neil Burton on Drums. The set was a very welcome opener to the evening although a tad short of interaction with the audience. I'm sorry to say that although he played fine, Mr Comley seemed to be somewhere else.

Mr H

Mr H, comes from south Wales.  A solo act with a good deal of roots experience, he is an accomplished guitarist (working with a stomp box) who has a penchant for what is sometimes called Trance Blues (or Hypnotic Blues) with repeated guitar phrases driving the vocal. Mr H has a fine bluesy voice but strangely chose to sit at the side of the stage rather than the centre.

Paint it Blue

Next up was Paint it Blue, a five piece band from Bournemouth fronted by singer Hannah Robinson. with Peter “Pedro” Quintin (Guitar) and Ed Fish (Harmonica). They are backed by a mature rhythm section - Ian Walker (Bass) and Marcin Dyba (Drums).  Quintin is an accompished axeman, who played a stunning solo in their second number that was so good it seemed, for a while, to put Hannah off her vocal stroke. Some nice harp work from Mr Fish filled out the sound  but as before the band was 'distant' from the audience.

Jim Blair (Hip Route)

Hip Route come from Swindon and the band is fronted by virtuoso lap-steel player Jim Blair who did some of his own material ("Wishing Pool' is a terrific song) and included in the set a stunning version of the Beatles song 'Let's Come Together' with some super steel work and pedal effects.  Supported by Jon (bass) and Steve (drums) (sorry no last names) the band gave a super set that had the audience rocking along.  Despite a ' it was nice to hear you clapping' to the audience after 'Together'  there was little audience rapport.

Dan Sowerby (centre) and band

A different cup of tea was Dan Sowerby.  An accomplished slide player (resonator  and Strat) he is also a fine singer and did what was later described as an effortless set, most of the time with a smile on his face. He has an open personality that he is able to project and daringly even did an instrumental piece (Voodoo Slide(?)) that was delightful. Some of his guitar work is intricate in the extreme.  With an unnamed (stand-up) bass player and drummer the set was hugely impressive and even included some 'bring down the volume' quiet bits that added hugely to the dynamic effect.

Stan Cockeram (Riverside)

The Riverside Blues Band from Lymington, Hants gave us some Chicago Blues with a vengeance.  Fronted by Stan Cockeram who is supported by harp man Paul Vause, and bass and drums, the set was fun and  a great way to finish off the evening.  Including some original material,  the band seemed to have a good time, but it must have been purgatory to have to wait for more than 2 hrs to get on stage.

By and large the evening was simply wonderful and demonstrated that there is a wide range of  simply outstanding musicianship on show in the UK.  The winner Dan Sowerby, will appear in the final, and the runners up (Paint It Blue and the Richard Clarke Trio) will have video placed on the website at www.tourismnewbrunswick.co.uk.  The same will be the case for the first two runners up in each heat and a public vote will take place between 1st and 28th February 2011.  The single winner of that vote will appear in the final in London.

FWIW, any and all finalists should try to interact a bit with the audience (Buddy Guy says that 90% of blues music is fun) and taking 20 seconds to introduce band members will never come amis.

Finally, I am told that it is possible that the Concorde club will be hosting more blues events. That would be good for everyone.

THERE ARE MORE PICTURES AT http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Concorde-Club/107455139292578

MATT ANDERSEN will be touring the UK in March in support of his new album “LIVE AT THE PHOENIX THEATRE”.

The album includes 3 previously unheard tracks and the rest of the album includes live recordings from his 2 critically-acclaimed albums “Second Time Around” and Something In Between”.

In Jan this year Matt won both acoustic and entertainer of the year in the Maple Blues awards In Toronto. Last year he won the 26th edition of the 2010 International Blues Challenge (IBC) in the birthplace of Rock N' Roll and home of the blues, Memphis, TN. Blues musicians from all over the world were chosen by their respected Blues societies to compete in venues on the world-famous Beale Street.

MARCH 2011

Thurs 17th  RAMSBOTTOM - The Grants Arms 0161 761 2216 / www.themet.biz £8 adv / £10 door, 7pm

Fri 18th   FOCHABERS -  Public Institute (BYOB) 07977 150641 / www.loftgigs.co.uk £10, 7.30pm

 Sat 19th  KINLOSS - The Loft @ East Grange Farm 01343 850111 / 07977 150641 / www.loftgigs.co.uk £10, 7.30pm (8.30pm start)

Sun 20th  GLASGOW - The Ferry 01698 360085  / www.the-ferry.co.uk £10, 8pm

Tues 22nd  LONDON - Nambucca www.myspace.com/symptomaticpresents £8, 7pm 

Thur 24th BILLERICAY - The Crawdaddy Blues Club 01702 347007 / www.newcrawdaddyclub.co.uk / www.myspace.com/newcrawdaddyclub £8, 8pm 

Sat 26th   BROSELEY (Shropshire) - The Birchmeadow Community Centre 07890 057832 / www.birchmeadow.org.uk / www.wegottickets.com £7 adv £8 door, 8pm 

Sun 27th   PETERSFIELD (Hampshire)- The Square Sessions @ Square Brewery 01730 264291 / www.thesquarebrewery.com £DONATIONS, 8pm 

Tues 29th   LONDON - New Brunswick Battle of The Bands Blues @ The 100 Club (www.the100club.co.uk)

Producers to make new CD

In February The Producers start recording their first album for 11 years.

Needless to say there's a lot of excitement in the band with other musicians enthusiastic to be part of this project, they include Andy Fairweather Lowe (Eric Clapton), Sam Brown (Pink Floyd, Jools Holland), Paul Lamb, Ben Waters and Paul Beavis (Go West, Gordon Haskell), subject to availability it is hoped they can all appear.  Needless to say, we at BITS are really looking forward to hearing this one.

For the time being all live appearances will cease for a couple of months.  There are a few local gigs booked. See the BITS web gig calendar at http://www.brownbearsw.com/freecal/BITS

Acoustic Blues Jam / Open Mic at the Platform Tavern, Southampton

We got this from Bob Long

This month's Acoustic Blues Jam / Open Mic at the Platform Tavern, Southampton http://www.platformtavern.com/index.html  is on Tuesday 25 January. All welcome, especially young singers/players who want to gain experience playing in a real music venue.

Special guest this month is the wonderful Martin Wood http://www.martinjwood.co.uk/

Matt Andersen wins top award

Matt Anderson, who will be one of the judges in the New Brunswick Battle of the Blues Bands final on 29th March at the famous 100 Oxford Street venue  has won big at the Maple Blues Awards.
The Bairdsville, New .Brunswick, native was named entertainer of the year and acoustic act of the year as the awards were handed out on Monday 17th January at Koerner Hall in Toronto.


Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/arts/music/story/2011/01/18/maple-blues-awards.html#ixzz1BPSm7PWW

BITS for February 2011

The new edition of BITS is now available for download from the website at www.bluesinthesouth.com. The new edition has all the nominees for the up-coming Blues Foundation Awards; Gigs for February; Cartoons, Obits, CD reviews and much, much more.

New Brunswick Battle of the Blues Bands

Only just over a week to go before the southern heat in this competition to find a British blues band, duo or solo musician to go to the Fredricton Harvest Blues Festival, Canada, in September 2011. The heat, which will be held at the Concorde Club, Eastleigh, near Southampton, takes place on Monday 24th January, starting  at 7:30pm.

The six bands/artists appearing in the heat are: Hip Route, from Swindon; the Riverside Blues Band from the New Forest; Paint it Blue from Bournemouth; Mr H from south Wales;  the Richard Clarke Trio from London; and, Dan Sowerby  from Salisbury.  The winner of the heat will appear in  the final in London (at the famous 100 Oxford Street, venue) on 29th March along with a runner up selected by YOU from video to be placed on YouTube: It’s a public vote.  Keep an eye on the BITS web site (www.bluesinthesouth.com) and on this blog for more information on that process.

Full list of heat participants at http://preview.tinyurl.com/2weowf8

Introduction

Hello Folks

Welcome to the brand new blog for Blues In The South. If you don't know what that is go to www.bluesinthesouth,com  and have a browse around.   Blues In The South, Known as BITS, publishes a monthly pdf flier which has reviews, news and a comprehensive gig guide for blues and related music  events in the south of England. If you are a musician (or a band) or what ever you can enter your own gigs into the calendar and they will be included in hard copy distributions to venues and personal copies to subscribers.

I plan to provide information about blues in the south on a regular basis.  Sign up and WELCOME.

Ian M
Editor BITS