Spanning an impressive 90 years of blues, from its roots and founders to 21st Century contemporaries, The Blueswater Collective are back at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, exploring the incredible history of blues by storming through a selection of the very best that the prolific music genre has to offer. Delivering classics from the blues legends such as Muddy Waters, BB King, Big Momma Thornton and Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, the young but incredibly talented band evoke the very spirit of blues through their performance.
Frontman Felipe Schrieberg’s vocal delivery of ‘I Put A Spell On You’ was so demonic and theatrical that it would make Screamin’ Jay Hawkins himself proud. The five-piece brass section had incredibly natural talent both together and as soloists, while female vocalists Ellie Mason and Anna McDonald added more sass to the gig with their renditions of Big Momma Thornton’s original ‘Hound Dog’ and Clapton’s ‘All Your Love’. Lead guitarist Charlie Wild’s effortless shredding did incredible justice to legends such as Clapton, Hendrix and Ray Vaughan.
Progressing through time, the 13-strong collective go on to explore the realms of rock ‘n’ roll and funk, with stellar performances of Elvis Presley’s ‘Jailhouse Rock’ and James Brown’s ‘I Feel Good’ before looking at the relevance of blues in the 21st Century. Crediting the likes of The Black Keys and Seasick Steve as acts currently flying the blues flag high, Schrieberg describes Jack White as ‘the most influential bluesman of today’ before the band offer their take on ‘I’m Shakin’’, a song from the former White Stripes frontman’s debut solo album, Blunderbuss.
Playing out their high-octane set with a full band performance of Muddy Waters’ ‘Got My Mojo Working’, which includes a washboard solo from drummer Paul Archibald and a duel to the death from trumpeters Luc Klein and TJ Muller, The Blueswater Collective ensure that, were there any concern about blues’ place in this new generation, they have most definitely eradicated it.
