Birmingham trailblazer Rebecca Downes returns with ‘A Storm Is Coming’—her sixth studio album and most fearless yet. Released Oct. 31 via her own Mad Hat Records, the album finds Downes and longtime collaborator Steve Birkett pushing blues-rock’s emotional and creative boundaries while staying true to its soul.
Author: David Scott
After a well-earned break and a wave of solo successes, UK folk-rock favorites Holy Moly & The Crackers returned to their roots with an electrifying performance at The Cluny in Newcastle. Blending powerhouse musicianship, deep fan connection, and genre-defying flair, the band proved their legacy is far from finished.
Rediscovered live recordings by Cannonball Adderley and Miles Davis explore the intertwined legacy of jazz and blues in Black American music history.
With unflinching honesty and poetic force, Ruth Lyon’s debut album, ‘Poems & Non-Fiction’ is a soul-searching odyssey through heartbreak, disability, identity, and resilience. Set to haunting strings, jazz-tinged brass, and intimate piano, Lyon weaves personal pain into songs that confront silence, celebrate survival, and find fierce beauty in imperfection.
What happens when one of the UK’s finest blues singers takes on a lost Willie Dixon track? A Spoonful of magic.
Rebecca Downes continues to impress with her latest single “These Days,” the first from her upcoming album due October 2025. Rebecca—an independent artist and mentor—pushes blues-rock forward with co-writer Steve Birkett and her band. The striking video, filmed at a disused Greek railway, illuminates her artistic vision beyond industry norms.
Fresh off three UK Blues Awards—including Album of the Year—Elles Bailey returns to ‘Beneath The Neon Glow’ with a stripped-down studio reimagining, uncovering new emotional textures and adding two previously unreleased tracks that expand the album’s narrative reach.
In the atmospheric setting of The Cluny—once a steam-powered flour mill—Ruth Lyon and Conrad Bird shared a set full of raw emotion, close harmony, and stories that hit home. With songs drawn from their time with Holy Moly & The Crackers, new solo work, and deeply personal tributes, the duo held the room in quiet attention, proving the power of stripped-back performance and deep musical connection.
A tribute to trailblazing women in blues, spotlighting the enduring legacy of Sister Rosetta Tharpe and celebrating today’s powerhouse UK blues vocalists—Alice Armstrong, Elles Bailey, Kyla Brox, Rebecca Downes, Joanne Shaw Taylor, and Emma Wilson—as they carry the torch.
Trailblazing gospel icon Sister Rosetta Tharpe — dubbed the Godmother of Rock ‘n’ Roll — electrified audiences with her powerful voice, fierce guitar skills, and groundbreaking partnership with Marie Knight. From 1940s gospel hits to a legendary rainy UK train station performance that inspired rock legends, her story now shines on stage in the acclaimed musical Marie and Rosetta, starring soul queen Beverley Knight.