Thursdays at the Cambridge Folk Festival is "locals" day - this year headed by Ade Edmundson's Bad Shepherds - and Sam from Foxton (plus one) will be going by dint of winning last night's competition on STAR BLUES. Congratulations to her and sorry I only had one pair of tix up for grabs. Again this week I shared breakfast with Malaya and got messages from Italy where Olga is on tour. I played her version of the Memphis Minnie song "What's The Matter With The Mill?" though I'm sure I don't know what it means.
I got invited to have pix done on Friday but couldn't make it, there'll be no excuse though for not knowing what your other fave presenters look like. Is the Mighty Mark Peters the Brown-Eyed Handsome man his fans claim?
Sometimes the show features electric guitar at the expense of other blues axes, so the balance got redressed last night with harp maestros Sonny Boy Williamson, Rod Piazza and Sugar Ray Norcia and the (then) teenage piano skills of Matt Empson with a wonderfully dexterous workout on Slim Harpo's "Shake Your Hips" - full of pep and verve. He's a fully qualified lawyer these days though he's done time in the Big Town Playboys. Last week from facebook Abdul suggested Gary Moore's album "Still Got The Blues" and I was happy to oblige this time. Gary is on the "Ultimate Blues" album still nestling in the lower reaches of the mainstream charts; Beth Rowley is also there and sung a heartfelt version of "Nobody's Fault But Mine". Eric Bibb, Rory Block and Maria Muldaur brought some gospel and John Lee Hooker's "No Shoes" got onto the playlist by being featured on the soundtrack of a film I'd recently seen: "American Gangster" with Denzel Washington set in the late Sixties.
The news section was about the new releases due under Jeff Healey's name, one sanctioned and approved by his widow and estate, the other not. I guess fans will make their own minds up - both are legit. I'm rustling up more blues, news, reviews and gossip for the next show - watch facebook for how the show will shapeup - I hope we'll spend another two hours together next Sunday at ten on FM and online at http://www.star107.co.uk/ on the commercial radio station of the year 2009, until then take care of yourselves and take care of those that take care of you.
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