The AGMP January Blues Festival has rocked up at different venues in recent years, but now, in its second year at the 229 Club in Great Portland Street, W1, it has found the perfect spot to host the exceptional line up of acts booked for the festival. The festival is the perfect way to start the year and deal with those January blues by listening to some artists who know all about singing the Blues. There’s something for everybody and the first act from the impressive schedule that I wanted to catch was Eric Bibb.

He’s an interesting musician, someone that’s been around for a long time, has released a ridiculously large number of albums (in excess of forty), has a great reputation and so on but as someone who incorporates a number of different influences in his music he doesn’t fit so easily into the pantheon of Blues artists as he would were he, say, a purely guitar toting Bluesman of a similar vintage. When asked about his influences in one interview he responded that his style was “a personal gumbo of fingerpicking Blues, Ragtime, Hokum, Country, Folk and Gospel influences. In other words, a bluesy troubadour!”.

All of which has resulted in a very enjoyable finger picking style that has the percussive sound of early Blues at its centre, enriched with additional melodic ideas from adjacent genres. He has made albums in tribute to Blues players like Bukka White ('Booker’s Guitar' in 2010) and Leadbelly (Leadbelly’s Gold, Live At The Sunset' in 2015) and his playing carries on that traditional style. The Folk influence is apparent in the quality of his songwriting, which contain thoughtful lyrics on the human condition.

He opened the set, alone on the stage, seated, playing the Blues standard ‘Goin’ Down Slow’ before being joined by a stellar three piece band: Paul Robinson on drums worked with Nina Simone for nearly twenty years (and also played on ‘Video Killed The Radio Star’ as well as earlier being the drummer for Brotherhood of Man!) and played with much more sense of musicality than many drummers you encounter on the live circuit; Robbie McIntosh has done a stack of things but of course is most well known for his work in The Pretenders and in Paul McCartney’s live band in the early 90s; he sat alongside Eric and added tasteful, restrained guitar when playing dobro or acoustic, letting rip a bit more when he played electric towards the end of the set. He’s one of those players I love, where every note hits home and the autopilot is never engaged; making up the support trio was Glen Scott on bass and, very occasionally keys. He’s a long time associate of Eric’s, producing his records and acting as his musical director since 2013. Not too shabby a bunch.

It was a highly enjoyable evening of great musicianship, no ear plugs required, really good songs delivered with huge dollops of charisma by a master singer-songwriter. Choosing a set list must be a headache for Eric Bibb, with literally hundreds of his own songs as well as songs he’s covered over the years to select from. On this evening he played several songs from his most recent album, 'One Mississippi', including the title track, a tribute song, ‘Muddy Waters’ and the witty groove of ‘This One Don’t’ (“some songs got chords you never heard of…some got complicated melodies…this song don’t!”). The rest of his set included songs from across his many years of productivity: ‘The Happiest Man In The World’ from the 2016 album of the same name (introduced with a typically warm twinkle in his eye as he described his wife’s reaction to the title of the song when he first played it, which suggested he might appear to her otherwise); ‘Saucer’n’Cup’, a tribute to his wife, from 1997’s 'Good Stuff' album (one of two songs where the band left the stage to let Eric take the solo spot and which featured a particularly tricky hand stretch for the moving bass part of the accompaniment); the beautiful ‘Dance Me To The End Of Love’ from his 'Friends' album; ‘Silverspoon’ from 2016’s 'Blues People' album and Leadbelly’s ‘Alabama Bound’.

His wife Ulrika joined him for a couple of songs during the set and again at the close. Treatment for cancer has not affected her voice and she sang in clear, warm tones. The affection shown for his wife was very moving. The crowd sang along to a stirring version of his classic, gospel inspired ‘Needed Time’ towards the end of the set, which closed with a rocking version of another old favourite, ‘In My father’s House’, from his 1994 album 'Spirit & The Blues' (which featured Robbie Mac really letting loose on guitar). The ever friendly AJ, spiritual head of the Wrinkly Rockers, entered into a conversation with a charming couple as the venue emptied, one of whom was a psychologist who asked the question as to why audiences warm to entertainers like Eric and BB King. The simple answer is that in addition to being fantastic musicians they radiate a sense of humanity that includes one and all in its glow. It’s the frosting on top of the cake that make evenings like this one so enjoyable.

The evening had begun with a perfectly complementary support act in the form of Anglo-Indian musician Ajay Srivastav, playing a national steel guitar and accompanied by noted table player Vinod Kerai. This was a gently enjoyable set of Blues and Indian fusion, exploring ideas beyond the typical man wants, can’t get, loses woman themes. Drawing mostly from 2020’s 'Karmic Blues' album (I’m presuming that songs from his excellent follow up to that album, 'Powerless', were too complex to recreate as a duo) titles like ‘Namaste’, ‘Charioteer’ (a figure from Hindu mythology), ‘Six Arm Goddess’ and ‘Karmic Blues’ told there own story. Ajay is an engaging performer and with his mixture of Blues grooves and infusion of Indian scales offers something pretty unique on the UK Blues scene.

A great night of music and one that made me want to explore both artists back catalogues; in Eric Bibb’s case there appears to be an absolute goldmine of inspired music to delve into.

Review and Photos: Simon Green

Videos: Denise Lester