At the end of July, two of the genre’s most revered forces, GA-20 & Charlie Musselwhite created a rare musical partnership that bridged generations, releasing 'Blues Now', ten tracks that pulsed with vitality, and tonight in Paris GA-20 complete the European leg of their extensive 2026 tour, having played London's Colours in Hoxton last Friday night, with support from Sister Cookie.

With Storm Austen's wind and rain in full force, tonight I decided to get a taxi from London Bridge with the money that I would save on my bar bill, given a certain WRC member from South West London had bailed, apparently because of trees on the railway line. Thankfully, us Sarf East Londoners are made of harder stuff, although I had to do a double take when arriving early at a deserted venue, as it had completely changed since the last time I visited it eight years ago, when it was called the Zigfrid Von Underbelly. Indeed, with the music of Toni Basil's 'Mickey' blaring away in the background, to be honest I wasn't 100% sure that I was actually in the right place, until I spotted GA-20 guitarist Matthew Stubbs at the merch stand, who very kindly extended me a warm welcome!

Now reassured with a beer, and after catching up with GA-20 drummer Josh Kiggans, as well asking about the wellbeing of 82 years young, harmonica wizard Charlie, we made our way from the bar up a few steps to the back of the building where this compact little venue is situated. With a stage very similar to London's 229 Great Portland Street, this evening's special guests were Sister Cookie. Given the weather outside, seeing Missy Katy Maguire brought back fond memories of her gleaming sunglasses reflecting the crowd at last year's Ealing Blues, when her trio's brand of urban Blues Soul enchanted the festival that July Summer's day..

In a short half hour set, the bubbly Casio playing vocalist kicked off to a healthy turn out with 'Taste Your Own', 'Can't Get It When You Want' and the shuffle of 'Bad For Me'. Ably assisted by the smart, waistcoated Danny on snare as well as the flowery shirted saxophone of Alex, Katie asked the unsuspecting crowd "do you believe in love at first sight?" before launching into the catchy Ska/Reggie beat of 'You Know I Do'.

Maguire's Sade like vocal on 'It Don't Come Cheap' was complemented by a neat Jazzy sax solo from Alex, which was followed by Danny's smooth snare intro on the shuffle of the interestingly entitled 'Your Never More Than Seven Feet Away'! To further showcase her ingenuity and smiling persona, Katie closed out with a solo that she had only written the previous weekend (seriously), entitled 'Ami Imaginaire' ('Imaginary Friend') that she sang partly in French. Not sure about imaginary, but after this performance, I'm pretty certain that Sister Cookie made a few more friends this evening.

Torchbearers of a new Blues revival, known for their high-energy performances and deep respect for tradition, 'Blues Now' united the fiery modern edge of GA-20 with Musselwhite’s seasoned mastery. Tonight was the fourth time I had seen GA-20, although only the second time with the new incarnation of Stubbs being the only constant, plus guitarist/vocalist Cody Nilsen and the aforementioned Kiggans. Although without harmonica virtuoso Musselwhite, one of the genre’s most revered figures, in me battling the elements this evening, this seriously reflected my affection for this awesome trio.

Arriving on stage to the very apt 'Mr. Big Stuff' by Jean Knight, they opened with 'My Soul', as Stubbs took advantage of the venue's very loud sound system with a nice loosening solo. Indeed, throughout their set both guitarists took turns to play bass lines under each other’s solos, and on Jimmy Reed's classic, 'I'll Change My Style', we not only saw Nilsen deliver his own short solo, but also a sweet vocal, that more than made up for the loss of Musselwhite's harmonica on the album.

"How you doing everybody?" enquired Stubbs before his solo on the more uptempo 'Cryin & Pleadin', closely followed by his "You all know this London" - cue Bo Diddley's gentler 'Crackin Up', featuring Cody and Matthew's beautiful dual guitars, nicely complemented by Josh's tender drum and tambourine work. Because of the venue's 10pm curfew, there were unfortunately three omissions from the on stage set list, the first of which was the title track from their album 'Lonely Soul'.

However, the good news was the following holy trinity of 'Dry Run', 'Give Me Back My Wig' and 'She's Gone', of which the foot tappin' 'Dry Run' saw another great solo from Stubbs. With Nilsen thanking the crowd for braving the storm, we were duly rewarded with two Hound Dog Taylor and the HouseRockers classics. Indeed Cody excelled on slide guitar on the faster 'GMBMW' as well as on my particular favourite, 'SG', of which the latter amusingly saw the two guitarists playing footsie on stage as the audience gleefully clapped along.

Both Kiggans and Stubbs then left the stage, as Nilsen took the front of stage spotlight on a stunning vocal and slide guitar solo on Lightnin' Hopkins 'I'm Leaving You Now'. Amazing. After returning and requesting that the crowd move down to make way for those at the back of the packed room, Stubbs not only pointed out that 'Blues Now' had topped both the iTunes and Amazon Blues charts, but also took the opportunity to have a pop at both Amazon and AI with a word that very aptly rhymed with suck!

Cue two Willie Dixon classics, the first of which was the short but sweet, 'I Can't Hold Out', probably better known as 'Talk To Me Baby', plus their revival of 'Crazy Love', often associated with Buddy Guy. Indeed, the latter was not only preceded by Stubbs toasting "cheers everybody", but he also quelled shouts of "USA!" from the audience. "None of that!" he joked. Further stories of Musselwhite (Matthew played in Charlie's band for 18 years) and how he met his hero Buddy Guy ensued, before Stubbs did both Charlie and Buddy proud with his guitar solo on this rare Blues gem.

Little Walter's 'My Baby Is Sweeter' also missed the cut tonight, although thankfully James Brown & The Famous Flames' slower Soul sounding 'I Don't Mind' didn't, duly demonstrating the genre versatility of Cody's voice. Matthew's "If you don't like the Blues then your listening to wrong shit" intro to the faster 'Stranger Blues', must have put a smile on the face of the guy standing down the front, who tonight was wearing that very same t-shirt!

Another Hound Dog Taylor and the HouseRockers cover, the slower Blues of 'Sitting At Home Alone', saw Nilsen descend into a delighted crowd with his trusty slide guitar on a number that had everything, including quiet chords, a funky vibe and a superb vocal, with Cody beckoning the audience to come towards him once he was back on stage. Brilliant.

Whilst of course plugging their merchandise stand outside, Matthew explained the nice problem of having sold out of 2025's 'Orphans' album in Finland, albeit emergency supplies were on their way! Hence, next up was the album's penultimate track, 'Just One More Time', featuring a solo from Stubbs that truly rocked the joint.

This gave way to the slower time signature of 'Easy On The Eyes', a microcosm of this evening's glorious set with an outstanding solo from Stubbs, that was well deserving of the audience's applause, as well as a stand out vocal from Nilsen, plus some sublime drumming from Kiggans. Given tonight's impending curfew, 'By My Lonesome' very appropriately hit the dust, although on the flip side they finished with a cover of Dick Dale's fast paced, instrumental, 'Nitro', dedicated to both Cody and Matthew's Fathers, who are both unbelievably called Dale (seriously), Indeed, the duo's front of stage dual guitar attack would have made both their father's very proud!

This evening was made complete as we chatted to the guys afterwards at the merch stand, them having kindly autographed my copy of 'Blues Now'. As I made my way back out into Storm Austen, it occurred to me that I could also get Charlie to sign it when he plays London's Union Chapel with Kirk Fletcher in January! As for GA-20, they continue with the American leg of their tour, kicking off in Tucson, Arizona on Saturday 7th November. On the other hand if you're in Paris tonight, do not miss them

Allez allez GA-20!

Review: AJ
Photos and video: Denise Lester