14 Dec 2015

Mississippi MacDonald - Hebden Bridge Blues Festival 2013

Mississippi MacDonald - Hebden Bridge Blues Festival 2013

When you are six feet something tall, wear a red suit and a big hat and you and your colleague walk into a blues bar and announce yourselves as Mississippi MacDonald and Rosco Blues then there is a fair chance that you are either completely mad and looking for a fight, or you are a talented authentic blues duo looking to spread a little happiness.

Fortunately for the Blues Festival these two bluesmen were the real Thing. Quickly settling into a cool acoustic groove they took the hugely appreciative audience on a knowledgeable journey South,

stopping at all those traditional musical halts and raising their hats to their heroes on the way. (There was even a delightful story of Mississippi and his dad trekking to see Robert Johnson's recording studio only to find that it had been bulldozed down the day before!) The absolute purity and controlled power of MacDonald's voice is beautifully counterbalanced by Rosco's fine and delicate Sonny Terry influenced soaring harp lines. They are a perfect fit. How often do you go to a gig and hear a Sister Rosetta Tharpe, a stack of traditional numbers, the referencing of Little Lizzy Jane and, of course, the classic line that just has to be somewhere in any brilliantly played traditional set “You're so mean to me'. A great set by some serious musicians....and unsurprisingly they took two well-deserved encores.