LOUISIANA RED & MICHAEL MESSER

Event information

Louisiana Red was born in Alabama in 1932, and is one of the last great
bluesmen still performing, who earned his place in the blues via the harsh
realities of life and who learned his craft from the fathers and grandfathers
of the blues; Son House, Elmore James, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Arthur Crudup,
Robert Nighthawk, Muddy Waters & John Lee Hooker, to name just a few!

When Louisiana Red performs, the songs are often only a launch pad for
expressing his immediate feelings, in the almost lost tradition of spontaneous
composition that goes back to the original Delta Blues artists and even further
to the West-African griots. From the old acoustic Delta sounds of Robert
Johnson, all the way to the urban electric Chicago style of his mentor Muddy Waters,
Louisiana Red’s great versatility shines.

Louisiana Red’s albums have been called masterpieces by critics, and in 1983 he
won a W.C. Handy Award as ’Best Traditional Blues Artist’.

Michael Messer was born in Middlesex in 1956, and is recognised as one of
the leading slide guitarists and blues innovators around the world. His playing
encompasses the entire history of the blues, but is uniquely contemporary
and highly individual. Being an English bluesman with an international reputation
for slide guitar is a rarity in itself and Messer’s obsessive appetite for knowledge
of his art is virtually unrivalled. The American magazine, ‘Spirit’ listed Michael
as one of the greatest slide guitarists ever alongside Duane Allman and Ry Cooder".

Michael Messer’s accolades include a US number one blues album in 2001 and
the award for ‘Best International Blues Guitar Album’ in 2003. One prominent
US journalist described him as “an unavoidable force in modern blues”.
In addition, Johnny Cash was a fan of Messer’s and wrote the CD liner
notes for his 1993 album, Rhythm Oil.