Backbone Blues Band - Which Way To The Blues (2015)

One of the best kept blues secrets in the UK, Backbone Blues Band are a British rarity; they are better known in the USA than in the Thames Valley, from where most of them hail.

With their 5th annual tour of the States completed in October 2014, the band are looking forward to a summer in England where they’re set to play numerous festivals and club gigs.

Their first album ” Made in Britain” was released last year, (available on iTunes) sold well in America and was promoted live on the famous Sonny Payne’s radio show, ‘King Biscuit Time’. “More of a privilege than a promotional stunt, Sonny’s a genuine hero of the blues” quoted Duncan Highet, the band’s bass player and singer.

They’ve played from “Beale to Bourbon” every year, including the King Biscuit Festival in Helena, the Balcony Music Club in New Orleans and Ground Zero Blues Club, where last year they have an entire Sunday dedicated to them under the billing, “The Big British Blues Brunch”. They fold all that experience into their performances back in the UK.

Influenced by the the old blues men and inspired by the new, their music is threaded with soul, rock and country and delivers a style that’s both eclectic in its construction, but unmistakably “Backbone” in its delivery.

“What we’ve learned most from our tours of the Delta, is that as well as the music, you have to put on a show. Just playing well isn’t enough” says Tony Seaman one of the band’s guitarists. “You can’t just shuffle on stage in old jeans and a scruffy T-shirt, you have to pay your dues and pay respect to the music and audience”.

Frank McConnell the other guitarist in the band expands on the theme, “We play songs. Yes it’s plainly the blues, but not predictably so; well written, well-constructed and well-executed songs is what try to do, we’re also really choosy about the covers we play and we give them the full Backbone treatment too”.
Backbone are a band that have clearly worked hard at what they do. With a tight rhythm section, creative guitars and keys, soulful vocals and a well-chosen playlist, they knock out a sound that grooves when it swings and punches well above its weight when it rocks.

Backbone Blues Band are Duncan Highet (Bass / Vocals), Martin Jezzard (Drums), Tony Seaman (Guitar / Vocals), Frank McConnell (Guitar) and Steve Pearce (Keyboards).