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This is the archive of the combined Barking Spider and Andy Broad Portsmouth Blues Site mailing lists.
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After the disapointment of the unavoidable cancellation of rock Lawrence's gig at The Bullfrog, and the great news that BEX MARSHALL is appearing instead at the Bullfrog Blues Club on June 2nd, there's even MORE good news, as Bex is bringing along the harmonica genius Steve Lockwood! Spark-spitting, genre bending 'nu-blues'– country - rock’n’roll - soul....Steve Lockwood, singer, songwriter & instrumentalist, has spent 25 years and 4,000 gigs testing the boundaries of harmonica playing and creating songs which make you dance, make you think and make you move. Steve’s had an extraordinary career as a frontman, singer and songwriter, from busking on the streets of Cambridge to recording with a symphony orchestra. Steve says “ I love so many different types of music, but the unifying theme is travelling: going out, searching for something, for the thing you need, and when you find it, bringing it home.” Steve has packed a huge amount into his career as a singer and harmonica player, touring round the world with his own bands and performing with acts from Larry Adler to Screaming Lord Sutch and Chris Difford. As an in-demand session player, he has recorded with both the Royal Philharmonic and Prague Philharmonic Orchestras. While 4,000 gigs and 70 albums speak for themselves as a tribute to Steve’s ability, in the 1990s Steve decided to study for a degree in music and graduated from Anglia Ruskin University Cambridge, specialising in harmonica. He now combines playing and touring with teaching and mentoring new artists. Steve Lockwood has played on over 70 albums but his new album, "Between the Tracks" is his first solo release. “I have no fear of crossing musical boundaries,” says Steve. “Every track on the album is different. It’s a musical variety box with something for all tastes, from dark-centred trip hop to the smooth caramel.” Check out Steve Lockwood on steve@steve.ms - appearing at The Bullfrog Blues Club on Thursday June 2nd with Bex Marshall . This gig will be a "warm up" to Bex's appearance at Glastonbury Festival, and it promises to be a great night. Bex Marshall plays an explosive slide rock 'n' ragtime guitar, roots pickin', with frails of bluegrass. Moonshine at midnight vocals with a back porch delivery, her lyrics are reflections of life and love with touches of humor, entwined with Americana roots. Bex pushes the boundaries of blues music from within this musical melting pot, but her songs have also been called timeless with touches of genius, her live show is fearless…there you have the tornado performance that is Bex Marshall. Bex Marshall's last release ‘Kitchen Table’ received stunning reviews world wide along with stand out sessions for Paul Jones & Bob Harris's BBC radio shows. Touring three times around the USA, extensive tours of Australia, UK and Europe all in under three years. Bex got to number 13 in the USA ‘UK artists chart’ and number 20 in the USA national Americana Music Association Chart. (AMA Chart). The mixing of Bex's third album continues, plans for a September release are underway, with return tours in the UK, USA, Australia and Europe to follow. Guests musicians on her new record are Don Wayne Reno (banjo), Dale Reno (mandolin) & Jake Byers (acoustic bass) all from Hayseed Dixie. B J Cole (dobro), Eileen Healy (fiddle), Gary Choules (acoustic bass) and Brigitte DeMeyer adding backing vocals, along with The Bex Marshall Band of Barry Payne (acoustic bass), Crispin Taylor (drums), Danny Bryan (percussion), Toby Baker (keyboards) and newest edition, gospel singer Shola Adegorove. Bex is now sponsored by the legendary guitar maker Chris Eccleshall who has built guitars for Clapton, Gallagher and Bowie to name a few, along with his partner Eddie Cameron. Bex now plays the 'Electric Lady Guitar'. She always had a passion for travelling, its in her blood and trained as croupier at 18 began her travels around the world working gaming tables on cruise liners to Park Lane even dealing illegal poker games in Amsterdam. She hitch hiked the coast of Australia on cattle trains and always with a guitar on her back living and storing those tales. She is a musical adventuress, described in the world press with comparisons to Memphis Minnie, Joan Armatrading, JJ Cale, Derek Trucks and….“Bonnie Raitt and Led Zep jamming in an everglade moonshine joint”. A Devonshire lass now residing in London, the product of two very different family's, one blue blooded landed gentry, the other Irish Romany. As a child at family gatherings her uncles would always play and stand her on the table to sing, at 11 years old she was given a 1963 Gibson Hummingbird by her Uncle David and started playing, she got hooked on instrumentals and classical guitar standards which stretched her fingers and gave her a great basis for her own music to develop, flamenco, ragtime, country chicken pickin', rock and on to blues, roots and slide/dobro which she now plays on an Ozark 3515E Electro Acoustic Biscuit resonator, wood body with a lipstick pickup and a cutaway through a Fender Frontman 25R. Reviews ‘…sounds like a breakthrough album’– Rock n Reel (R2) UK ‘…Marshalls album is of such class and maturity, without an apparent weakness or filler’ – Blues Matters UK ‘…As a writer she’s mastered the art of making new material sound like its been found in long forgotten vaults –Net Rhythms UK ‘..She has harnessed the power of the blues without resorting to cliché or plagiarism – - Spiral Earth UK ‘..deserves wider recognition for her spit and saw dust vocals and fluid resonator guitar licks…Classic Rock Magazine UK ‘..Marshalls competent axework has Mark Knopfler's feathery touch’ - LA Weekly US ‘...the blues ‘Black Guitar’ culminates in a slide guitar clamour Derek Trucks would be pleased to call his own’ – Downbeat Magazine US ..a younger version of Bonnie Raitt. Seldom do we hear such blues inflected rawness in female guitar players and its so refreshing to hear it done with such authenticity and assurance’ – Folk and Roots Magazine UK Then there’s her voice….Tina Turner, Janis Joplin, Joan Armatrading, Beth Hart, Bonnie Raitt…. ‘…..Bex Marshall’s voice draws up the ghosts of old blues women’s heartaches’, Outlaw Magazine US ‘…the absolute stand out on this album is Marshalls vocals’ – Root of Rock Magazine NZ ‘….She has all those essential vocal frailties that make the difference between soul and soulful’, Folk and Roots Magazine UK BEX MARSHALL and STEVE LOCKWOOD appear at The Bullfrog Blues Club at The N.B.E.C.S.A. Club ( a.k.a. The Dockyard Club), Onslow Rd, Southsea, PO5 2NH, on Thursday 2nd June. Doors open 8.p.m. Advance tickets obtainable online - www.barkingspider.abelgratis/com or from "Saraband", Goldsmith Avenue, Southsea (next to the Shell petrol station) during shop hours. you can also purchase tickets on the door, subject to availability.