Jessica Foxley Stages has teamed up with The Great British Rhythm & Blues Festival, Colne, Lancashire, to offer young, under-the-radar acts the opportunity to play the main stages at the festival, that takes place over the Bank Holiday weekend of 23rd - 25th August. Applications to play the Jessica Foxley Stages are now open here and close on Wednesday 20th March. Four bands/artists will be chosen, in total, to each play one slot. The judges are seeking acts with a ‘Blues leaning’, with originality, creativity, technical ability, musical compatibility to the festival, and entertainment value being at the core of their choices. The Jessica Foxley Stages' focus is on supporting musicians up to the age of 25. As a minimum, the lead musician in a band must be aged 25 or under on 31st August 2019. In addition to this, one of the four chosen festival acts will be nominated to be part of the UK Blues Challenge 2019.

Legendary guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen releases his new album 'Blue Lightning' on Friday 29th March on Mascot Records. Only a few guitarists are known with only their first name. Yngwie is one of them. With 'Blue Lightning', Malmsteen highlights not only his enduring dexterity and diversity, but also pays homage to those from the Blues and Rock worlds who have fuelled his artistic spirit for so long. Anyone who is expecting Yngwie to copy exactly the way the original versions sound is in for a shock. Because that is not what he has done. He has masterfully transformed classics like 'Smoke On The Water', 'Purple Haze' and 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps' into his own inimitable style, plus wrote and recorded four new new tracks, one of which, 'Sun's Up Top's Down', is today's Track Of The Day'.

It was good to hear recently from Andy Rowberry, guitarist for 2017 WRC Best Prog Performance winners IT. The guys return to London on Thursday 28th March to headline The Fiddler's Elbow in Camden as part of a London Prog Gigs & Spacehouse Productions gig. Doors open at 7pm with Circu5 on at 7.30pm, followed by Tom Slatter and then IT. Tickets priced £8 are available here.

After breaking through last year with their platinum hit 'Wish I Knew You', The Revivalists (lead singer/guitarist David Shaw, guitarists Zack Feinberg and Ed Williams, drummer Andrew Campanelli, bassist George Gekas, saxophonist Rob Ingraham and percussionist PJ Howard) are finally heading over the pond on their 'Take Good Care' tour, stopping off at London's iconic 100 Club this coming Thursday 7th February. Well Rob’s brother Andy is a guitarist in a Heavy Metal band out of Las Vegas named Bravo Delta. Check out today's Track Of The Day for their official music video for the title track from their new album ‘Unbreakable’ which was released everywhere on Friday.

Elles Bailey released her double A-side single 'Wild Wild West'/'What's The Matter With You' (today's Video Of The Day) on Friday. The tracks come from her second album 'Road I Call Home', which will be released on Friday 8th March. To celebrate, Elles has also confirmed thst she is to play at Ramblin’ Man Fair on Sunday 21st July alongside Beth Hart on the Blues stage! Over the past three years, Elles has arrived on the scene and single-handily built an International following by constantly touring, and promoting herself and her blend of Blues and Country fuelled Americana. Inevitably, Bailey will soon be back on the road she calls home including The Lexington in London on Tuesday 12th March - a chance to experience her unique voice and amazing new material, in Elles’ natural habitat!

Following successful label festivals in Milan, Los Angeles and Stockholm, 'Frontiers Rock UK', a new event presented by Frontiers and The Academy Group, takes place tonight at the O2 Institute in Birmingham. The Festival starts at 5pm and features some of the hottest acts signed to the label, with six bands comprising a spectacular bill of UK based talent including headliner's Inglorious, Wayward Sons (Video Of The Day), Vega, Bigfoot, 2018 WRC 'Best Support Band' winners Doomsday Outlaw and City Of Thieves.

Chantel McGregor (today's Track Of The Day) is the latest addition to The Chelsea Blues, Rhythm and Rock Festival taking place at London's Under The Bridge on Saturday 30th March between 3pm and 11pm. With Martin Barre's Jethro Tull, The Stevie Nimmo Trio, Bourbon Street Revival,Deep Sea Blue and JFK Blue already on board, a limited number of Early Bird tickets priced £29 are now on sale here.

Up-and-coming, five-piece London Rockers At The Sun will release their rip-roaring debut album ‘Leave Before the Light’ on Friday 8th March. And to herald this, the band are headlining London's Scream Lounge in Croydon tonight. The band are five, talented, music-loving London guys, committed to mixing up heavy dirty guitars, pounding rhythms, soaring vocals and ripping solos. At The Sun was formed by rhythm guitarist Kieron Heavens and bass player Alex Matthews, who set out to bring together the finest musicians they could find to make music with lasting substance. After a long (and often frustrating!) search for the right line-up, Harry Dale (vocals), Chet Jogia (lead guitar) and Craig Steen (drums) joined Kieron and Alex, releasing their debut 4-track EP ‘Breathe’ in 2017, gaining radio play on the likes of Ridge Radio, Planet Rock, Hard Rock Hell and Total Rock.

Today's February 2019 WRC Bulletin looks back at our our January gigs including Sari Schorr, Frances Dunnery, BluesClub, Atomic Rooster, Skid Row and Aynsley Lister plus our Steve Hackett interview and our Wille & The Bandits CD review. We also look forward to our February gigs including Inglorious (tonight), Frontiers Rock, At The Sun, Connor Selby, The Revivalists, King King, Collateral, Don Broco, Ozzy Osbourne, Enuff Z'nuff, Slash, Blue Oyster Cult, Stone Broken, Kris Barras, Ariel Posen, Steely Dan, The Struts and Man With A Mission plus Electric Mary (pictured) and Aaron Buchanan And The Cult Classics CD reviews. Don't forget that if you ever want to contribute a gig or CD review to our website then please get in touch!

"It’s a shorter set than their headline one (obviously), but no less powerful, it packs some punch and still showcases their considerable talent. Set closers ‘Holy Water’ sees Drew switch to a fabulous Fender Telecaster for a slower Bluesier groove whilst their radio hit ‘Until I Die’ is rightfully saved for their finale. Great stuff. I look forward to see them hitting the stage at Download later this year. They will go down a storm there just as they did tonight." That was part of our take on Inglorious just down the road at Hammersmith Apollo (pictured) supporting Steel Panther last year, and their since changed line up headline the Shepherd's Bush Empire tonight at 9.30pm supported by Frontiers stable mates City Of Thieves at 8.30pm (Video Of The Day) and Blind River at 7.30pm.

Our first February Track Of The Day is The Blues Club Podcast featuring music from Stevie Ray Vaughan, Thorbjørn Risager & The Black Tornado, Kyla Brox, Cash Box Kings, Brother Strut, Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes, Josh Hoyer & Soul Colossal, Southern Avenue, Jon Cleary, Anthony Gomes, O.W. Houlston & The Red 8, Ben Poole (pictured), Tape Five, The Animals, Georgie Fame, St. Paul And The Broken Bones, Catfish and many more.

"It's now 'Retribution' time - the final track on the album - the band signing off with the message of how governments have sold out our planet and it is now payback time. More like 'Retro-bution', given Edwards soaring Skynyrd like lap slide solo, once again consolidated by Brooks and Naumann's solid foundations plus some awesome keys. A real cracker to round off an album that has everything musically: attitude, experimentation, energy, diversity and thought provoking messages, whilst at the same time having the beauty of the manoeuvrability of another dimension in a raw, live, environment. This is real Rock 'n' Roll as we know it, personified. On this evidence, Wille & The Bandits are certainly heading down the right path." Wille & The Bandits release their new album 'Paths' by Fat Toad Records and distributed by Proper tomorrow, encapsulating the excitement and gusto of Rock ’n’ Roll. Read the whole of AJ's review here plus check out our Track Of The Day.