Buddy Guy and Taj Mahal to play Bluesfest sideshows

16 March 2010 by Tim Hyland

Blues legends Buddy Guy and Taj Mahal will team up for two incredible concerts in Sydney and Melbourne while in the country for the Byron Bay Bluesfest.

The last time Buddy Guy played Melbourne's Hamer Hall, those in the balcony section were thrilled when the blues legend left the stage, ascended the stairs and appeared in the theatre's second level, his trademark polka dot Stratocaster in hand, and jammed with his band, who remained on the stage below.  It is this showmanship that saw the great Jimi Hendrix once cancel his own show to attend a Buddy Guy concert.

His last album, Bring 'Em In, found Guy trading licks with the likes of Carlos Santana and John Mayer on a set of songs featuring covers of classic soul songs. On his latest album, Skin Deep, Guy offers an endorsement to such younger players as pedal steel virtuoso Robert Randolph and husband-and-wife guitar slingers Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks. These musicians serve as a living response to the question Guy raises on the song "Who's Gonna Fill Those Shoes," featuring pre-teen guitar whiz Quinn Sullivan, in which he reflects on the future of the blues beyond his revolutionary generation. "I just try to get the best players, and hope I can pop the top off this can and show that the blues are back," he says. "I learn from them-bring them in and see what they can do. And these guys got me feeling like when I was 22 years old and went into the studio with Muddy Waters." Buddy has received five Grammy Awards, 23 W.C. Handy Blues Awards (the most any artist has received), the Billboard Magazine Century Award for distinguished artistic achievement, and the Presidential National Medal of Arts. Yet despite this long list of achievements, Buddy Guy and his music remain as vital as ever.

Sharing the bill with Buddy Guy in Melbourne and Sydney is Taj Mahal.  Taj has been playing his own distinctive brand of music – variously described as Afro-Caribbean blues, folk-world-blues, hula blues, folk-funk, and a host of other hyphenations – for more than 40 years. A 2009 inductee into the Blues Hall of Fame, Taj Mahal's has received a huge nine Grammy Award nominations over his career, and had won two of these. The first in 1997 with Best Contemporary Blues Album for Señor Blues, and again in 2000 with Best Contemporary Blues Album for Shoutin' in Key. 2008 saw his most recent Grammy nomination again for Best Contemporary Blues Album for his most recent record, Maestro.  His latest release "Maestro: Celebrating 40 Years" marks the 40th anniversary of his long and varied musical career, and includes performances by Ben Harper, Jack Johnson, Ziggy Marley and Angelina Kidjo to name a few. And all the tracks are danceable. "The one thing I've always demanded of the records I've made," he says, "is that they be danceable. This record is danceable, it's listenable, it has lots of different rhythms, it's accessible, it's all right in front of you."

Buddy Guy and Taj Mahal play Melbourne's Hamer Hall on Wednesday March 31st (tickets from www.theartscentre.com.au) and Sydney's Enmore Theatre on Thursday April 1st (tickets from www.ticketek.com.au).

Taj Mahal also plays Adelaide's Governor Hindmarsh Hotel on Tuesday March 30th with Eugene Hideaway Bridges, with tickets from www.venuetix.com.au , www.moshtix.com.au and www.thegov.com.au

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