Following her triumphant October 2025 UK Tour, Texas based Blues Rock guitarist and vocalist Ally Venable recently embarked on another nine-date UK Tour, along with her special guest on all shows, celebrated Canadian Blues Rock phenom, Garret T. Willie, as well as just for tonight's leg at London's The 100 Club, teen guitar sensation Jesse Garwood.

Her latest tour follows hot on the heels of her critically acclaimed sixth studio album, 'Money & Power', that made such a strong statement, especially for women, of which this Nashville-recorded album released by Ruf Records, also saw the award-winning Texas gunslinger's crack-squad band joined by A-list guests Buddy Guy, Shemekia Copeland and Christone ‘Kingfish’ Ingram.

Opening this evening for Ally was Pelton Arms educated and Charlton based, Jesse Garwood, plus his fresh, youthful band comprising Ben Hancock on bass and Elliot Francis on drums. Although having bumped into Jesse twice, once watching his good mate Zac Schulze play (who was also donning like Ben tonight a Jesse Garwood t-shirt!), as well as in a Pizza restaurant in Ballyshannon, this was the first time I had seen his trio perform.

Well it was well worth the wait. Channelling superb energy, the guys took it in their stride playing this iconic venue. Indeed, Garwood's playing style is clearly influenced by Schulze, and just like Zac, Jesse's Blues Rock star is soaring and deservedly so, given this short, but outstanding, half  hour set set. A mix of Garwood originals, namely 'The Banker', 'Keep On Rollin' and 'Bad Lovers Blues', as well as covers of a Nine Below Zero influenced 'Treat Her Right', Rory Gallagher's 'Tattoo Lady' and Jimi Hendrix's 'Voodoo Child'. Garwood added poignantly at the end that it was an "honour" for them to kick off tonight. Well it was an honour for us as well mate! Definite candidate's for this year's WRC "One's To Watch" award!

Checking in next, only just eight years older than Garwood, was another Blues Rock whippersnapper Garret T. Willie. Similar to Jesse, given this tour was Willie's UK debut, this was a first for me. like most no doubt in this packed venue this evening, Although, we were familiar with some of  Garret's material, having broadcasted it over the last three years as part of our daily Podcast Of The Day. Also researching his website before tonight's gig, Willie appeared to be yet another guitar dude beyond his years. And so it turned out.

This larger than life, shades and denim jacket wearing frontman, led his his four-piece troops on to this historic London stage for a 45 minute set of blistering Blues Rock and all stations in between, Channeling the weight of an artist who has lived every shade of the Blues, the 28 year old from Vancouver Falls immediately grabbed The 100 Club faithful by the scruffs of their neck, with his frenetic stagecraft, deep, gravel-soaked voice, as well as his hard driving, foot tappin', guitar riffs. 

Quite possibly the love child of George Thorogood and Big Boy Bloater, they opened with 'It Won't Get Done',  and continued the unrelenting AC/DC vibe with a cover of 'Sin City'. Keeping up the pace, and with one for all the whiskey drinkers in the audience, 'Keep On Dancing' saw another amazing guitar solo from Willie, on this great little rockin' singalong. This was followed by some delicious Blues, including a superb vocal from Garret, one of which I believe was taken from Willie's latest album, 'Bill's Cafe', called 'Small Town People',

Having now removed his sunglasses, the quartet ended an awesome set with their rockin' opener from 'Bill's Cafe', namely 'Hypnotist', which not only saw Garret stepping off the stage into the delighted crowd, but also saw him playing his guitar behind his back. Another candidate for this year's WRC "Best Support" award?, as well as it surely being only a matter of time before Willie's return to these shores as a headliner. Amazing.

Indeed, Ally Venable's performance with her power trio at London's The Garage in October last year, resulted in the acclaimed, songstress sensation being nominated in the Best Blues Rock category in our 2025 WRC Awards, although the last time we actually saw Ally was at Romania's all-star Brezoi Festival in July. Backed up once again by EJ Bedford on his white six-string bass guitar and synthesiser, as well as baseball capped drummer Isaac Pulido, howls of eager anticipation greeted Venable's rallying cry of "London", as she launched into 'Unbreakable', of which this appetising loosener from 'Money & Power', originally featured Shemekia Copeland no less. 

Another from 'M&P', Ally's driving riff on 'Brown Liquor', saw the dreadlocked, beanie hatted, shades wearing EJ, encouraging everyone to clap along, despite his compadre Isaac looking a bit isolated stage right! With two relatively short numbers under her Les Paul guitar belt, the assured Venable asked "are y'all ready for me to play some Blues tonight?" Cue extended guitar solo territory, not for the last time this evening, and a cover of James Taylor's delicious 'Steamroller Blues', featuring a superb vocal from Ally.

It was then back to the latest album and the bangin' 'Texas Louisiana', as Venable unashamedly name dropped a certain Buddy Guy who originally played with her on this stellar Bluesy nugget. A cracking singalong ensued, with Bedford nicely filling in on the 90 years young Blues legends vocal, that saw Ally smashing this one out of the ballpark, with an exceptional solo on her pink Fender Strat. Taken from 2023's 'Real Gone Year', and originally performed alongside Joe Bonamassa, Venable slowed things down with another amazing solo on the melodic 'Broken & Blue', that also showcased Ally's expressive vocal range. 

With not a setlist in sight for any of the bands tonight, I was pretty certain that Ally's next brilliant cover, which opened with EJ's funky bass intro, complemented by Venable's high heeled red boot pedal driven wah wah guitar, and its "hands in the air" Rage Against The Machine  vibe, comprised a golden twelve minute medley of Parliament's 'Stopper Back Papa/Give Up The Funk/Tear The Roof Off The Sucker'? Please correct me if I'm wrong!

On the other hand, I was pretty comfortable in naming the next two! Firstly, taken from the new album, 'Feel That Sting', highlighted Ally's electric dexterity on the fretboard, rockin' out with yet another extended solo, that was followed by a wonderful instrumental cover on her Les Paul, on what I initially though was Audioslave's 'Cochise', but was actually Prince's 'Plectrum Electrum'! Brilliant.

Venable's take on The Jimi Hendrix Experience's classic, 'Fire', sparkled like her shimmering frock, as did her 'Lenny' tribute to Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble, of which its climactic ending  brought back fond memories of us seeing her fellow Louisianan protege Grace Bowers also cover this in New Orleans last year. A deserved standing ovation, thankfully resulted in this ultra-tight, solid threesome treating us to one more song, cue a splendid cover of The Alabama State Troupers 'Going Down'!

A bit like AI, Venable's stock is definitely rising, but unlike AI, Ally is the REAL deal! It's also hard to believe that given the exceptional musical excellence on show tonight, that Jesse, Garret and Ally in all, have a total combined age of just 71 years (you do the maths!).

Anyway, calling Glasgow, Bristol and Faversham, tonight, tomorrow and Thursday respectively, whatever you do, DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT miss out on catching this first class Blues Rock tour at one of your final three venues!

Review: AJ
Photos + Video: Denise Lester