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The Blue Boards / Main Forums / General R&B; Chat / The fantastic Ben Andrews
Guest  (Posted:  12 Nov 2005 10:34 )

Hi,
I don't know if anyone is familiar with Ben but he is an absolutely amazing blues guitarist. I first saw him at the Guildfest (Guildford muisc festival) a number of years ago, and immediately I was blown away by him. A week later I saw him play an intimate gig at the Union Chapel in London and he was even better. Not only is he a master of many varieties of the blues (I especially like his Deltas Blues "stuff") but he has an amazing knowledge of the history of blues, being from the Southern states of the US, and his storytelling is almost as entertaining as his music.
He's playing a short series of shows in the UK now and I'd thoroughly recommend seeing him. We've managed to get him to play Liverpool on Tuesday 15 November (trying to get decent blues in Liverpool is a very difficult thing!), so if anyone is interested please give me a call on 0151 428 2855. You can also email me if you wish. He's in the UK for another couple of weeks, try to see him.
John
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  (Posted:  13 Nov 2005 11:12 )
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Currently Offline 		Posts:  5
Join Date: Nov 2005
Shades saw him at the Bishopstock festival and he was excellent - the last one before it folded in fairly acrimonious circumstances (financial irregularities etc.). And you're right John, his story telling is enormously enjoyable.

He is undoubtedly a master of the acoustic blues guitar, but he does tend to stick to the very traditional, orthodox blues forms. Shades has three of his CDs, and while they are easy to admire, they're difficult to wholly enjoy unless your are a true lover of the authentic acoustic delta blues sound (in which case, he's got to be one of the best interpreters around today).
Shades prefers its acoustic blues with a little more variation (purists would say "watered down" ) and is more at home with Eric Bibb, Corey Harris and, even, Keb Mo!
[ Post Reply ]  

Guest  (Posted:  13 Nov 2005 21:22 )

I'm with the Shades site on this one - seen him live in Maidstone and he's a great guitarist (not that great a vocalist though) and story teller. But I guess if you're not a diehard acoustic blues fan (I prefer Little Milton to Lightnin' Hopkins, B.B. King to Robert Johnson) then the unremitting sameness of it all can pale a little bit after a while - is that heresy?
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  (Posted:  13 Nov 2005 22:46 )
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Currently Offline 		Posts:  20
Join Date: May 2005
Well, it's not heresy just because you prefer your blues veering towards the R&B and blues-soul end of the spectrum (me too, as it happens)

But John's original post about Ben Andrews should be seen on its own merits as well. If you are into acoustic and delta blues, then Andrews is clearly a master practitioner. It never ceases to amaze me why some players hit the big time and other with the same if not more talent never seem to get beyond the club circuit. Whenever I've seen Ben perform (three times now) he never fails to win over the audience and yet people just don't seem to buy his albums. I suppose promotion (or lack of it) is part of the explanation, although his albums have long been available on amazon and other on-line retailers. You'd think word of mouth would generate some kind of impetus, and yet his successful live performances just don't seem to translate into CD sales.....

I suppose it's just the latest in a long line. How else do we explain Bobby Bland's lack of success in the popular charts, James Carr being less lauded than Otis Redding, Solomon Burke having only a couple of successes on the pop charts and Aretha being discovered by a new audience only when she duets with George Michael
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