By Dennis Atkins On a sunny Saturday afternoon at the Gold Coast’s Blues on Broadbeach Festival in 2016, an emerging blues keyboard player, Lachy Doley, took to the main stage in Surf Parade. With his bandmates, Jackie Barnes on drums and Joe Bangma on bass, Doley set the afternoon on fire with soulful music, exciting, adventurous swirls, and percussive runs. Being on the main stage meant Doley’s gig was filmed. It was a real lucky break - getting his music noticed around the world, including by some [...]

Like any performance art, there are some blues acts that work hard to capture people's attention with shows that are very different to what else is out there. For example, in 1923 (or 24), the singer Ma Rainey devised show - a tent show, to give an idea of the planning - where a giant prop Victrola phonograph player was wheeled onto the stage. Then a chorus girl would take a giant prop record and place it on the phonograph. From inside the pho "Villain [...]