Grooving blues hits hot moves

TWO OF Melbourne’s top blues performers will strut their stuff at Sleepy Hollow Blues Club’s September gig on Sunday.
Fiona Boyes and Dan Dinnen team up as the main act, preceded by the regular jam session where local blues musos are invited to take the stage.
Fiona Boyes 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.
She is a veteran recording artist with 13 releases, six international award winning albums, four successive Blues Music Award nominations in four categories, 15 Australian Blues awards, as well as a string of accolades in the folk, jazz, and Americana scene.
Boyes has carved out a well-deserved reputation as a guitarist, vocalist, songwriter and band leader, and is equally at home on acoustic or electric guitars.
Her repertoire is like a blues travelogue.
Those who listen to her play will 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 stylings of Texas swing, and the uptown sounds of the West Coast.
With his finger-picking acoustic guitar, tasty blues harp and warm, soulful vocals, Dan Dinnen plays originals and blues standards, from smoking ballads to juke joint stomps.
Dan was the 2009 MBAS Blues Performer of the Year and competed in the International Blues Challenge on Beale Street, Memphis, in 2010.
As well as interpreting classics from the blues repertoire, Dan also pens original blues-infused tunes that draw on a wide range of influences – especially on the deep well of old time, pre-war country styles.
Dan performs regularly as a solo acoustic blues man as well as in duo and trio formats – using combinations of double bass, electric guitar and drum accompaniment.
Sleepy Hollow Blues Club is at Trades Hall (access via Smythe Street) with the jam session running from 3pm to 5.30pm followed by the main act.
Visit sleepyhollowbluesclub.org.au or check out the Facebook page.