Upton Blues Festival
Upton upon Severn, Worcestershire
July 15th - 17th 2005
Upton Blues Festival Official Website

The fourth free Upton Blues Festival with over 40 bands and 11 venues (pubs and clubs),
all within walking (staggering) distance made this year's festival the biggest (and best) yet.
A fantastic weekend of blues music, R&B, rock, soul, rock n'roll, swing, jive and gospel.

So here are the photos, starting with, in our opinion, three of the best bands at the Festival ....... enjoy!

Blues Infusion
www.bluesinfusion.co.uk

On 04^th June 1964 Howlin‘ Wolf’s Smokestack Lightnin’ reached the dizzy heights of 42 in the British Top 100 charts and managed to stay in the chart for 5 weeks. This was remarkable, for those of us who were around at the time, as the swinging sixty’s R& B scene was in full flight competing with the popular ”Mersey Sound”. Since then for one reason or another this R&B song has been rarely covered, perhaps because the vocals range is too difficult to reproduce. This was remedied at the Upton Blues Festival some 41 years on.

At 2100 hrs, at The Star, on Friday July 15^th 2005 a fine R&B Band called Blues Infusion took the stage. These boys from that hot bed of British Blues to be found in South Wales were superb, 60’s R&B in profusion. All the old favourites and a cover of  Smokestack Lightnin’ to die for. “Big Slims” heart rendering vocals were unbelievable as he delivered, in our opinion the best British version of this remarkable song. Together with his astonishing harp “Big Slim” and the Blues Infusion with their infectious enthusiasm were outstanding and amongst the very best of some 40 bands to be seen at the festival.

Steve Wosket and Alan White

Slowburner

www.slowburner.co.uk


 

The Worried Men
www.theworriedmen.com

Tin Pan Alley
www.tinpanalley.org.uk 

Built For Comfort
www.builtforcomfortbluesband.co.uk


 

Eddie Gartry's Bluesstate
www.bluesstate.co.uk

IDMC Gospel Choir
www.idmcgospel.com


 

Perry Foster and Lightnin'Willie

Courtland Brezner
www.earlyblues.com


 

Mike Sanchez and his Band
www.mikesanchez.co.uk