Sunday’s at Davey’s have never been bigger and it aint gonna stop there! With an exciting new roster just announced, Soultrain welcomes back the legendary Chris Wilson and crew, Geoff Achison makes his long-awaited return to Soultrain and Jimi Hocking’s back from a national tour with The Screaming Jets. One not to miss is Fiona Boyes celebrating her win for ‘Best Blues Album’ at last weeks Age Music Victoria Music Awards. Fiona performs her final show as a local in an exclusive farewell gig for Sunday Soultrain on December 6.
Winning ‘Best Blues Album’ and hitting #5 on the U.S Blues Radio Charts doesn’t happen every day! Australian Blues guitarist and singer, Fiona Boyes, has been variously described by reviewers as a ‘musical anomaly’, ‘Bonnie Raitt’s evil twin’, or simply as ‘scaring the hell out of me’. How did this fair-haired gal, born and raised in Melbourne, Australia, of Scottish and English heritage, become an internationally recognised and awarded recording and touring artist? How did she come to be the first woman and non-American to win the International Blues Challenge in Memphis? Why did some of the great Mississippi Delta and Chicago blues giants, such as the late Pinetop Perkins and Hubert Sumlin, choose to describe her as one of the best women guitar players since Memphis Minnie, record on her albums, and share stages with her at international Blues festivals? How does it come about that the Mayor of Clarksdale, Mississippi, birthplace of the Blues, should present Fiona with the ‘Key To The City’, recognising her as an Aussie ambassador of the Blues?
The answer lays partly in Fiona’s striking and original talent; she writes, sings and plays just about anything in the Blues realm with passion and authenticity. It is also her immersion in the wide musical and historical traditions that make up the Blues and her deep love of the art-form itself.
Fiona has been recording and performing internationally for more than 25 years, building a career that has taken her to major festivals and stages in Australia, New Zealand, North America and Europe. A veteran recording artist with 13 releases, 6 international award winning albums, 4 successive Blues Music Award nominations in 4 different categories, 15 Australian Blues awards, as well as a string of accolades in the folk, jazz, and Americana scene, Fiona has carved out a well deserved reputation as a guitarist, vocalist, songwriter and band leader.
Equally at home on acoustic or electric guitars, her repertoire is like a Blues travelogue. Listen to her play and you’ll hear pre-war Delta slide, wailing laments, single chord Mississippi Hills grooves, intricate and beautiful Piedmont finger picking, rollicking New Orleans barrelhouse, greasy Memphis soul, driving classic Chicago sounds, the country styling’s of Texas swing, and the uptown sounds of the West Coast.
With an exciting new music deal, Fiona and family are only weeks away from relocating interstate making this performance at Davey’s her last as a local and a very sentimental farewell.
The Sunday Soultrain is stopping all stations in December with some killer names kicking off with Fiona Boyes on December 6. . Bound for Davey’s each and every Sunday afternoon Sunday Soultrain delivers the best of Blues, Soul and Rock’n Roll each week. LIVE and FREE from 3pm!
