Ian Siegal

Another fine night as part of the Future Juke festival. This time a three band show featuring Ian Siegal playing solo acoustic on an exclusively pre-war Blues session.

Dingwalls was converted into a small club with all the audience seated around picnic tables and it made for a convivial atmosphere that suited the (generally) unamplified music coming from the stage.

First up were The JuJubes, a three piece playing Blues that singer Nikki learned at the feet on her father. Half an hour of excellent acoustic Blues that warmed the crowd up nicely and made them a fair few new friends.

After a few minutes, the three were down to two as Mark Harrison took to the stage along with percussion by Ben Welburn. Now, I have seen Mark a few times now and he seems to get more comfortable in his own skin every time. He entertained the crowd with a combination of his finely crafted Blues, very much in the style of the greats but dealing with contemporary themes, with anecdotes for each song. I’m never quite sure if the songs punctuate his anecdotes or the other way around but they are utterly complementary, and the crowd was enjoying it all. He closed with his ‘Your Second Line’ as a tribute to the late great Dr John at it sounded completely right in the circumstances.

Then, that brings us to Ian Siegal. He has a huge presence onstage, dominating in his sharp suit and dark glasses (prescription and for the lights – in his own words “not going Joe Bonamassa”) and then throwing that gravelly and hard edged voice into a terrific selection of songs from his pre-war heroes. We had songs from Leadbelly, Big Bill Broonzy, Mississippi John Hurt, Reverend Gary Davis as well as John Lee Hooker and his personal favourite, Charlie Patton. Siegal clearly felt encouraged by the audience reaction and as he warmed up was happy to talk about the music, not always treating the artists as untouchable demi-gods. This was not an over-practised, note perfect performance; it seemed to come from the heart and he imbued the classics with modern soul. For me, his version of ‘Goodnight Irene’ showed the darkest side of Leadbelly’s original, stripping away the saccharine of the later country versions and all the better for it. I for one would be very happy if this encouraged Siegal to record an album of pre-war Blues - he certainly has the love and the chops.

A hugely enjoyable night of Blues at its’ most pure. Every show I’ve seen under the Future Juke banner is different and shows just how broad a church the Blues really is.