NEWSLETTER

SOLO

I have been sent by an old friend some recordings of the Kiewit Folk & Blues Festival in Belgium dating from 1979-83.  There's quite a few hours of music to listen to, but we hope to issue the best of it on a forthcoming CD.

I have also started to present a weekly show of blues, jazz and a few rarities on local radio.  Especially of interest to record collectors, it can be heard on Sheffield Live 93.2FM on Friday afternoons at 2pm and is podcast on the web at www.sheffieldlive.org.

Plans are afoot for tours in 2010 with US duo Chris Whiteley and Diana Lee Braithwaite, and with the British blues legend, acoustic guitarist Dave Peabody.

                                                                     

DUO

Our May tour with the very fine Mississippi-born singer/guitarist Fruteland Jackson was a great success with great audiences and a few sell-out, or near sell-out crowds.   In a little over three weeks we visited most of the UK and played the Spring Festival in Ecaussinnes, Belgium.

We have a sprinkling of festival dates through the summer and are looking forward to the Marlborough International Jazz Festival in July.

Another great privilege will be to play with the internationally acclaimed guitarist Woody Mann, with whom we are sharing an all-too-brief UK tour in October.

BOB HALL BAND

The launch of "What Goes Round" SPV Blue 42572 went well and we had good reviews in fRoots and Blues And Rhythm.  In 2009 we hope to play some more dates with the band.  The Voisey Charity Festival in Warrington was a lot of fun.  The band included Ric Lee on drums, Top Topham on guitar and Nick Pentelow on tenor.

ALL STARS

The long-awaited live CD from The All Stars  featuring Long John Baldry, Peter Green, Kim Simmonds, Tom McGuinness and myself in performance at Notodden Festival 2004, was released on August 28 2007 on the Blue Label SPV 49692 more details at www.spv.de.  Titled "Live At Notodden" this has some epic performances and comes with a 12 page booklet.  The first English language review described it thus: "Lovers of the British Blues sound, here is your "album of the year"".

Enquiries have been received for the All Stars from the USA and we will be playing the Smokie Blues Festival in Carnoustie in August.

HISTORIC RECORDINGS

Two tapes featuring one of my boogie woogie big bands have recently been found in The Rolling Stones archives.  These recordings, which were made at a live concert to celebrate fifty years of boogie woogie in 1978 feature Charlie Watts, Alexis Korner, an all-star horn section and vocals from Alexis, Chris Farlowe and myself.  I am hoping to go into the studio shortly to mix these historic recordings for CD release later this year if we can sort out the contractual issues.

THEMED SHOWS

Our music revue 'Good Liquor, Hard Times' featuring music from the Prohibition era is still available for bookings by rural touring schemes and arts centres.   The CD of 'Good Liquor, Hard Times' on Able Records can be obtained from Red Lick.   Our latest revue, 'Rough and Rowdy Ways', had a great start in 2008 and is available for touring in 2009.

 

Bob, Tom & John