I write this sat in a hostel in Memphis, home of the Blues. It’s 31 centigrade outside but the heat is a welcome change from the weather in London. Memphis is the second stop on my tour of USA and Canada, I have just left New Orleans, and a little piece of my heart lies there still. New Orleans is a city that sucks you in like a swamp, and it can be hard to leave. I played two gigs in the city, one at a cool little coffeehouse called ‘Neutral Ground’ and the other at ‘Bar Redux’ a dive bar on the edge of the French Quarter. The gig at the Neutral Ground was quite a laid back affair, but I liked the hippy vibe of the place. There was also no alcohol at the bar so just lots of iced coffee to combat the heat. I had a day off before my next gig, so foolishly decided to go for a ‘few’ drinks with some Australian guys that I’d met in the hostel. We ended up in the notorious ‘Bourbon Street’ a frankly seedy mile long street full of strip joints, bars, and home to the famous ‘hand grenade’. This is New Orleans strongest drink, made from 10 different shots to a secrets recipe. One of these monsters is usually enough to guarantee a ‘good night’ but we stupidly decided to have two. The night was a complete blur, I still don’t remember most of it, but safe to say when it came time to play the next day I was still a complete mess.
The gig it’s self was a bit of a struggle but I just about pulled it off. I had support from a local blues band that helped and had some great pictures taken by local photographer Rick Moore. It was then time for an early start the next day and an 8 hour bus ride to Memphis were I’m due to play in another coffee house called Java Cabana. As I’ve been traveling I’ve also been filming a Vlog of the tour with some live footage from my gigs. So expect to see that on my YouTube channel a couple of weeks after I get back to the U.K.
In other news I was lucky enough to have my song ‘Rambling Man’ featured on the cover mount CD for this months ‘The Blues Magazine’. This will be the third time I’ve had a song in the magazine, and the editor liked my music enough to feature a full page spotlight on me, which will be great for giving the song some well deserved exposure.
