There is an awful lot of buzz around Aaron Keylock. Kerrang! declared him the “New Solo Superstar” in the 2015 Fresh Blood List, whereas  Metal Hammer wrote in 2014: “It’s ludicrous that someone as talented as Aaron Keylock is a mere 16 years old but if anyone can shred like Gary Moore, …

Anticipation ahead of seeing Joanne Shaw Taylor was understandably high.  Having seen her in  the support slot for Joe Bonamassa earlier in the year and, also, on Later … With Jools Holland recently, Shaw Taylor certainly has established herself as an artist of sublime skills. Then add to the mix …

It’s been a busy old year for Birmingham blues queen Joanne Shaw Taylor. A string of gigs supporting blues legend Joe Bonamassa on his British Blues Explosion concerts to Beck, Clapton and Page. Then there was a support slot with Glenn Hughes across the USA. Next up were festival appearances …

The debut album from Los Angeles based Big Jesus, Oneiric – pronounced O-ni-rik and which apparently means ‘relating to dreams or dreaming’ – is certainly different and in an extremely good way. A fusion of elctro-punk with more than hint of rock, it is a work of contradictory ideas that …

It’s a bit of a brave decision by Danny Bryant to re-record what has become widely regarded as being a classic, the 2013 cut from the truly magical Hurricane album Prisoner of the Blues. Even braver is it to rerecord that song with a 9 piece band, retitle it Prisoner, …

At one time or another, even the very biggest bands were unknown. The Beatles, for instance, were just another quartet of leather-clad rockers playing in a pokey Liverpool tea bar until Brian Epstein was handed a rough copy of them singing My Bonnie. Bad Touch first came onto my particular musical …

With her ninth solo studio album released, Beth Hart can confidently claim to be on fire right now. Fitting really, given that the title of that ninth album is Fire on the Floor and is arguably her freest, most emotionally unhindered release to date.   Her previous recording, Better Than …

Glenn Hughes’ latest offering, Resonate, should come with some kind of health warning. Loud, proud and indisputably ballsy, this is an album that demands to be played with the volume switch cranked so far over to the right the woofers in your amps will complain. From the very instant the …

Outstanding is an often overused term. When used to describe former Procul Harum guitarist Robin Trower however, there is hardly an adjective more fitting on this evidence. Yet this isn’t a night owned solely by Trower and his superb backing band of Richard Watts on bass and vocals and Christopher …

Raw passion is the underlying spirit that bursts through on the second of Simon Townshend’s former USA Only releases, Denial.  An album that in its entirety examines addictions – personal and witnessed – this is a musical statement with balls and introspection that is never burdened by laconic remorse or …

Okay. Where to start? Simon Townshend – younger brother of a certain Pete and son of jazz saxophonist, Cliff – certainly knows what it takes to make an album stand out and that’s very definitely what the remastered version of the 2012 release Looking Out, Looking in does. An invigorating …

Different: not the same as another or each other; unlike in nature, form, or quality. Eclectic: deriving ideas, style, or taste from a broad and diverse range of sources. These are just two definitions of separate words that sum up to perfection Your Desert, My Mind the new album from …

What must it be like growing up in a city, dreaming of filling your local venue like all your heroes have done before you? Then ask yourself, what must be like to fulfil that dream? Ask King King, whose sold-out hometown concert at O2 ABC in Glasgow on 14th May …

With his eighth studio album Eyes Wide Open being released on October 7th and with an extensive 41 date UK and European Tour kicking off in September, things are pretty busy for Aynsley Lister right now.  In fact pretty busy … period! Eyes Wide Open sees him confidently pursuing his …

The term ‘legendary’ is often over used. However, when you have a career spanning five decades and worked with everyone from Fleetwood Mac, David Bowie and Eric Clapton through to Laurence Jones and Sari Schorr, it is safe to say that producer Mike Vernon deserves the tag as much as …

Like a cool breeze on a hot, humid day Aynsley Lister’s eighth studio album Eyes Wide Open refreshes those parts some other blues / rock albums fail to reach. Packed with a variance of style, and a serving of understated panache, here is an assortment of 13 individually superb creations …

Once in a while there comes along an album that makes you smile for no particular reason other than it is something to savour and you feel blessed to have heard it. Ray Wilson’s second album release inside twelve months, Makes Me Think of Home, is such an album. With …

“It’s a little bit different,” says Joanne Shaw Taylor of her fifth studio album in a recent interview and she sure isn’t wrong either. Wild is a ride filled with pure emotion that’s been sprinkled with a touch of spice and seasoned with more than a dab of zest. From …

There’s an old adage: Reap What You Sow and if putting in the hours, being unafraid to take risks and sticking your neck out to get noticed is what it takes to get to where you want to be, then blues rock sensation Sari Schorr is in line to harvest …

  Mold may not be a name synonymous with Blues music but it might well be in the future after hosting the unmissable North Wales Blues & Soul Festival last weekend. Added to this was the fact that, unlike many outdoor events, the sound provided by Event Sound – the …