Groundhog Blues Club presents...
Dave Kelly
Groundhog Blues Club are very proud to welcome Dave Kelly to headline Under The Wrekin: Acoustic Blues. The connections between Dave and Tony McPhee go back to the mid 60s during which time Dave credits Tony with introducing him to Robert Johnson and teaching him how to tune a guitar to play slide. Dave first recorded for Tony on 1968’s ‘Me And The Devil’ album. Dave sang and played on Arkansas Woman, When You Got A Good Friend and Buy You A Diamond Ring whilst Dave’s sister Jo-Ann Kelly also featured extensively on the same album. Following this successful recording Tony temporarily joined the John Dummer Band, alongside Dave and Jo-Ann, recording 1968’s ‘Cabal’ with this lineup before Tony left to concentrate on his band, The Groundhogs. Dave continued for a further year recording second album ‘The John Dummer Blues Band’ in 1969.
Dave went on to become a leading light on the UK’s blues scene, accompanying blues luminaries such as John Lee Hooker, Howlin Wolf and Son House before forming The Blues Band with Paul Jones and Tom McGuinness in the late Seventies, a band that rapidly became one of the UK’s most respected and popular blues acts.
Dave’s professional career has scanned over 55 years and he has worked with many of his heroes such as Buddy Guy, Junior Wells, Freddie King, Lowell Fulson, The Allman Brothers Band, Bill Payne, James Burton and Albert Lee. Probably one of the most auspicious pedigrees of any British Blues artist, acknowledged by the 2025 Lifetime Achievement Award from the UK Blues Federation. At 78 years of age Dave shows no sign of slowing down nor any intention of retiring – he says “Why should I retire? – I get paid for my hobby!”
Slide guitar supremo and songwriter Michael Messer (favourite of Johnny Cash), with Ian Dury & the Blockheads legend and multi-instrumentalist songwriter Chaz Jankel. It doesn't get better than this!
The pair have known each for almost 50 years, but it wasn't until a phone chat in 2020 and the suggestion of meeting for a jam that it all came together. And how! The result is the acclaimed 2024 release ‘Mostly We Drive’ - "an exhilarating album of original songs with mesmerising grooves,"said Rough Trade.
These two artists wear decades of combined musical experience lightly, as their music displays a freshness of approach and adds new twists to their foundational influences in blues, world, funk, new wave and rock. The exhilarating and accessible music Michael & Chaz make together bears comparison with the finest work in either of their garlanded careers.
"Copious servings of blues and a healthy chunk of Blockheads-like funk.” The careers of these master musicians had gone down different paths after they met in the days when Ian Dury & the Blockheads were storming the land. But the pair are beside themselves with excitement about working together.
"The quality of the playing is exceptional - they are both masters at their crafts." - Music News USA
“Two musicians totally in tune with each other and playing the most delightful and engaging music I’ve heard since Duane Allman sat down with Eric Clapton over 50 years ago” Mark Ringwood - Roots Around The World
"There is a cross-over point where our different musical orientations chime, and here it is. The songs are SO good to play." Says Chaz.
"A wonderful experience. We were pulling each other in different directions and hopefully producing great music along the way." Says Michael.
Photograph by Rob Blackham/Blackham Images
Oli “Mississippi” MacDonald from London, England speaks quietly but makes music with real gravitas. Mac (as friends call him) is a rising star, having been honoured with a session by Cerys Matthews on her BBC Radio 2 Blues show, championed by Mojo Magazine, and given 3 UK Blues Awards. Both his fellow musicians and many music industry pundits predict big things for MacDonald.
His 2023 album Heavy State Loving Blues demonstrated how Mac’s gravitas has developed, matching his remarkable guitar playing with soulful vocals and strong original songs: here is a rising talent making his mark on the soul/blues scene.
MacDonald learnt guitar from studying the Kings – B.B., Albert, Freddie – and Albert Collins. He listened intently to the likes of ZZ Hill and O.V. Wright, Southern soul singers whose voices possessed a blues inflection.
Mac, happy to be a tortoise not a hare, worked away at his craft, playing locally and privately pressing recordings, a suburban bluesman with a family to support. Then, post-lockdown, he raised his game, signed to Another Planet Music and started getting booked beyond the local pub/club circuit he’d cut his teeth on. His APM debut album Do Right, Say Right was released in late-2021 and won accolades across the UK, Europe and the US. Guesting on US harp player/vocalist Steve Bailey’s Crazy About You album (a tribute to Sonny Boy Williamson II) demonstrated that Mac could hold his own with the Americans. Then came Heavy State Loving Blues and I Got What You Need – here MacDonald demanded and grabbed attention: he is the most exciting British blues guitarist in years as well as a singer and songwriter of considerable note. And never less than soulful.
“I’ve been out there grafting for years,” notes MacDonald, “and I’ve finished my apprenticeship and am ready to play alongside my heroes. Veteran Memphis soul singer Vaneese Thomas – Rufus Thomas’ youngest daughter – guested on Heavy State. This led to Mac being invited to showcase at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis and record a track with Freddie King’s brother Benny Turner. I also got to meet Boo Mitchell at Royal Studios.”
Boo is the son and heir of the late Willie Mitchell, the Memphis maestro who defined the sound of 70s Southern soul by producing hits on Al Green, Otis Clay, Ann Peebles, O.V. Wright and others at Royal Studios. Mac and Boo hit it off and an arrangement was made for Mac to record at Royal with the Hi Rhythm Section and then to join the Take Me To The River All Stars playing alongside Hi Rhythm, Carla Thomas, William Bell, Taj Mahal, Eric Gales and Jools Holland.
In 2025, celebrating his third UK Blues Award, Mac released Oli Mac Presents Slim Pickin’. Charting at #1 in the RMR Acoustic Blues category, RnR magazine awarded the record a coveted 5 stars stating “Mississippi MacDonald has produced a true nugget of acoustic folk blues… all ten tracks represent 21st century blues of the highest order. If only all side projects were this good”. Earlier this year Oliver appeared alongside Colin Blunstone, Andy Fairweather Low, Liane Carroll and our Under The Wrekin Acoustic Blues headliner Dave Kelly as part of Paul Jones and Friends.
Oli “Mississippi” MacDonald’s fluid fingers, a singular voice and songwriting talent mark him as the new voice of British soul-blues – note his name.
Blues and soul become inextricably entwined in award-winning singer-songwriter, KYLA BROX, whose raw talent has seen her described as “the finest female blues singer of her generation”. Winner of the UK Blues Challenge 2018 and the European Blues Challenge 2019, voted Best Female Vocalist in the 2019 European Blues Awards and semi-finalist in the International Blues Challenge 2019 and 2020, Kyla Brox is at the very top of the UK Blues scene.
Daughter of cult blues figure, Victor Brox, the Mancunian vocalist began her career as a teenager in her father’s band and has now honed her own sophisticated sound, as heard on her critically acclaimed and award-nominated albums, Throw Away Your Blues and Pain & Glory, which reached No.1 in the IBBA Charts for 2019 and was nominated Best Album in both the European and UKBlues Awards.
Her voice; tender, urgent, gritty, blurring the distinction between pleasure and pain. Kyla will be appearing in duo form with her husband, virtuoso acoustic guitarist, Danny Blomeley, whose playing, by turns delicate and unrestrained, has earned him a following in his own right.
A completely independent artist, Kyla has built her career year on year; starting out at grassroots with local pub gigs and growing to headlining concerts all over the globe, including some of the most prestigious Blues festivals in the world.
With thousands of albums sold and a constantly growing fanbase, Kyla Brox is widely regarded as one of the very best soul-blues singers the British Isles has ever produced.
JIMMY REGAL AND THE ROYALS. A tough and howlin’ harmonica-led three piece from South London, with a sound from Mississippi to New Orleans to Mali to Canvey Island.
After their initial independent album hit the UK charts in 2017, they signed to Lunaria Records and scored four top-10 UK blues albums. Their 2023 studio album, First and Last Stop, went to #1 in the UK charts, was #1 most played UK act in the international Roots Music Report charts for three straight weeks and was a US top 10 placing in the Contemporary Blues charts.
Nominated by the UK Blues Federation for 2024 Band of the Year and Album of the Year, Jimmy Regal and the Royals are one of the UK's most exciting and original bands, with growing acclaim locally and internationally. The three piece's latest release, Well Boss showcases a powerful live performance at the Temperance in Leamington Spa and topped UK and international charts. Jimmy Regal and the Royals stand out from the crowd with a powerful sound that translates to stellar live performances.
Vince & Sophie are a vintage blues duo based in Plymouth in the UK. VINCE LEE has been playing and singing the blues in all its forms since the mid 80s and has influenced many likeminded musicians with his guitar playing. SOPHIE LORD was one of those people. Recently returning to Plymouth after 10 years working as a bass player in London, Sophie joined forces with Vince in early 2022. Together their style touches on American roots music, jump blues, calypso, swing and ragtime.
The duo have released two albums Out In The Sticks (2023) and Out In The Sticks Vol.2 (2025) alongside their debut single Laughing In The Face Of Death in March 2025.
Multi-awards-nominated, MARK HARRISON has a reputation for being unlike anyone else out there. Mark writes songs about things most people live and think about but don’t hear songs about, and songs that tell stories they haven’t heard before. Proper songs, with catchy melodies and memorable lyrics that you can hear.
With his outstanding tunes, wry observations, striking rhythms and stunning guitar playing, he is widely considered one of the most original and interesting artists around. His highly individual music takes him and his brilliant band to top venues and festivals, attracting acclaim and rave reviews wherever they go.
Described by countless audience members and reviewers as ‘uplifting’ and ‘inspirational’, Mark is a totally original songwriter, a stunning guitarist, and a master storyteller. He has been frequently heard on BBC Radio 2, including on its Pick of the Week show on a playlist containing many of the world’s top pop artists.
Mark and his extraordinary band (Charles Benfield on double bass/vocals and Ben Welburn on drums and percussion) have a unique sound and style that is very much their own genre, and incorporates elements of classic roots, rock, folk and blues. The music has a timeless style that would sit well right next to the classic artists of the golden era such as The Band and Little Feat. It’s music to sit and listen to and pore over, and it’s music to make you smile, think and get up and dance. You won’t hear anything else quite like it.
Mark’s live shows are known not only for the music but also for his introductions and explanations of the songs, and audiences frequently comment on how big a part these play in their enjoyment of the shows. Delivered in a manner often described as ‘wry’ and ‘dry’, these mark him out even more as a unique artist.
BIG JOE BONE (A.K.A. Danny Wilson) plays what he calls "Blues-Grass" music.....a mix of Delta Blues, Bluegrass, Oldtime, Gospel and Hillbilly music utilizing his raspy vocals, hard driving harmonica rhythms, sublime bottleneck slide guitar playing (on steel bodied resonator guitars) and lightning finger-picking skills on 5 string banjos.....all held together by a very heavy stomping boot!
Originally from London and now living on the Mid-Wales coast, Danny started playing guitar as a schoolboy and has now been travelling all around the UK playing his fast, furious Roots music to eager audiences since 2012.
As well as playing songs from great Roots musicians like Son House, Dock Boggs, Bukka White, Flatt and Scruggs, Mississippi Fred McDowell, Charlie Parr, Blind Willie Johnson, Skip James, Robert Johnson .....the list goes on and on!, Danny also plays his own songs, which fit right in to his eclectic set.....which shows that when it comes to roots music, he really "gets it".
Although "Big Joe Bone" is a relatively young act compared to some, Danny has a lifetime of music behind him and has thrown himself into what has become a very busy schedule of gigs since he hit the road in 2012.
"Big Joe Bone" is an act not to be missed!