"Lee Hedley is one of the most talented individuals to emerge on the local music scene in many, many years and we blues fans should all be grateful that he has chosen to devote his talents to the Blues..." Real Belfast Representative
"Lee Hedley is nothin but a pure legend and an ambassador for the Belfast Blues scene......" Timeview
"you guys have amazing talent. i don't often get impressed, but! you guys impress the hell out of me..."
forever friend, and fan! Greg jordan - Indiana, USA.
"the Lee Hedley Band are a fun, well travelled, well cured outfit with plenty of crunch and bite and a relentless rhythm attack......"
"What makes Lee so enjoyable is his dedication; his celebration and approach, blending good audience rapport...and primary kick ass classic rock entertainment..!"
"the collectively honed skills of the Lee Hedley Band is obviously the result of a fluent familiarity with each technical vernacular, cultivated and cured over time, fat harp tones, tight rythmns, classic rock covers given a hard hard facial and delivered with an upbeat and spirited enthusiasm!" Mick Kenny of Anna Livia Radio Dublin
"Lee and the boys in Ireland's Number One Blues Band (and I've seen a lot in my time !) Lou, Aaron and Bobby...once again you're most welcome to Cork where we all love you......The honour is our's to be able to listen to blues music that will outlive all of us and to be played by such superb, talented and dedicated musicians. Welcome and thanks !" IRISH JACK Lyons.
Phil Guy younger brother of the legendary Buddy has been wrapped up in blues music since he arrived on the planet back in 1940 four years after Buddy. Just like Stevie Ray Vaughan and his brother Jimmy, the Guy brothers have their own individual musical personality and approach to playing the blues and although Phil has stood in his brothers legendary shadow over the years he has also carved out a respectable niche for himself as a guitarist and performer.
Phil was consistently good from start to finish in this Bleu Note performance and much of the credit for this lies in the truly wonderful support provided by the Lee Hedley Band with the empathetic and marvellously inventive guitarist Blue Lou Campbell providing perfect guitar power accompaniment for this master post war Chicago Bluesman.
Lee on Vocals and Harp, Aaron on Bass, Bobby on Drums and Blue Lou on Guitar created a winning atmosphere to pave the way for Phil Guy’s arrival on stage with frighteningly good versions of Treat Her Right, On The Road Again, Tuff Enuff and Hoochie Coochie Man.
Phil makes it look easy sliding into the notes on his Fender Telecaster on classics like The Things That I Use To Do, Last Time, Sky Is Crying and Little By Little and when he settled into a slow and easy blues groove you could close your eyes and find your ears digging the same vibe as some pure Junior Wells Hoodoo Man Chicago Blues my favourite recording featuring Phil’s brother Buddy with Junior Wells , Jack Myers on Bass and Billy Warren on Drums.
The Lee Hedley Band rhythm section, Bobby Dyer on drums and Aaron Loughran on bass were at their magnificent best converting every signal from Phil into solid chunks of genuine roadhouse electric blues with the star of the previous weeks show Bobby Dixon sitting in on keyboards and taking some well executed solos.
Each song sounded fresh and vital reminding me how good the blues can be and how it should be with an appealing performer, a good time atmosphere bunch of musicians on the stage ,with a sound that is rich and full bodied, making, shaking and sharing good blues music live in Dublin.
Phil Guy’s stage persona is much different than that of his brother Buddy, whose high energy moves on stage primarily influenced a young Jimi Hendrix, whereas Phil employs a no effect’s approach to his stage demeanour preferring to let his fingers do the talking with his killing floor riffs on his Fender Telecaster.
Phil has got an experienced funkier side to his craft and its no problem for him to take it to the bridge on a James Brown tribute or Rolling Stones Miss You vibe and diversify into some ZZ Hill and Little Walter seamlessly for some down home blues shuffles.
When older brother Buddy left the family home in Lettsworth Louisiana at seventeen, the then thirteen year old Phil took down Buddy’s old acoustic and started teaching himself to play. After a few years as Buddy made his way from band to band from Baton Rouge to Chicago, younger brother Phil would fill the vacancy left behind by his talented brother, honing his skills in outfits like The Raful Neal Band and Slim Harpo and eventually joining Buddy’s Band in Chicago in 1969.
Pretty soon the Guy Brothers were opening for The Rolling Stones and Eric Clapton on European Tours and Janis Joplin, Grateful Dead and The Band back on the American circuits.
Phil has backed up many of his contemporary blues cohorts on guitar from Koko Taylor, Big Mama Thornton, Son Seals and Albert Collins as well as deviating into soul and funk and disco outfits over the years in order to solve the commercial nature of his craft.
Phil Guy never gets to fancy and never forgets the importance of the groove and keeps the time honoured standards surprisingly fresh with plenty of stride and stomp and a real solid backbone to each tune.
Phil initially cut his teeth on Jimmy Reed and the funkier James Brown tunes and when he gets an irresistible groove going he fills the dance floor with his blend of soulful Chicago blues with gyrating hips and flailing air guitarists bouncing out of their seats including two veteran live blues supporters on the scene Southside Eddie and Southside Pat nodding on in approval.
Each song was elevated to a sublime level of intensity by the guitar, bass & drums of the Lee Hedley Band with charismatic front man Lee blowing up a storm on his solid Blues Harp measures all the way. Phil Guy’s stinging concise style along with his rough plaintive vocal style delivered a pants on fire hard driving pace on top of the Lee Hedley chassis and four wheel rollicking roadhouse tinged rhythm & soulful blues backdrop.
The time just flew in and before I knew it we were walking out the door of the Bleu Note at 3am exhausted and elated by another great live Chicago Blues performance on Capel Street Dublin shining a well deserved light on thescintillating talents of Phil Guy and the dazzling support of the Lee Hedley Band.
“The sky is crying can’t you see the tears roll down the street”
Please forward to your any music fans in your address book and keep the music live and supported.
Lee Hedley Band @ Bleu Note St Patrick’s Night Dublin 2007
The Lee Hedley Band from Belfast provided an excellent soundtrack of high energy rock blues for the St Paddy’s Day celebrations in the Bleu Note ground floor lounge from midnight to late into Saturday night Sunday morning.
The expert rhythm section in Bobby Dyer on Drums with Aaron Loughran on violin bass & electric bass propelled Lou Campbell’s stylistic Strat work and front man Lee Hedley’s Blues harp into the fast lane for this enjoyable after midnight session.
The jovial Blue Note audience was on its feet and around the front of the stage as soon as Big Fat Woman, the Rolling Stones Miss You and Tuff Enuff from the Fabulous Thunderbirds set the floor boards vibrating and the audience singing along while Lou Campbell unleashed some flamboyant slabs of Keith Richard style power chord playing.
“Well I’ve been haunted in my sleep
You’ve been staring in my dreams
Lord I miss you”
The Lee Hedley Band are a fun, well travelled well cured outfit with plenty of crunch and bite and a relentless rhythm attack fronted by humorous rousing versions of The Doors Roadhouse Blues and Muddy Water’s Hoochie Coochie Man.
Legendary Muddy Waters sideman John Primer is coming to play in the Bleu Note on Friday 20th & Saturday 21st April and the Lee Hedley Band are his backing band for those gigs an inspiring challenge that they confronted admirably for John’s fantastic gigs in Ireland last year.
What makes Lee so enjoyable is his dedication; his celebration and approach, blending good audience rapport with a fluent interpretation of swinging R&B shuffles and primary kick ass classic rock entertainment from Canned Heat’s On The Road Again to the soulful classic Hard To Handle, from Etta James’s I ‘d Rather Go Blind to Rockin Robin.
“He rocks in the tree top all day long
Hopping and a bopping and a singing his song”
There were all kinds of adventurous dance moves generated by the boogie going on amongst the crowd, decked out in forty one shades of green with one born line dancer of a woman struggling to keep her man in tow, who appeared to have six pints to many for her choreographed aspirations.
The potent musical influences alone of Rory Gallagher’s Bullfrog Blues and Chuck Berry’s Johnny B Goode demolished any passive tendencies in the Bleu Note crowd to remain seated and demonstrated a band on stage, comfortable in their surroundings and firing on all pistons.
“Mama told him he would be a man
He would be the leader of a rock and roll band”
It was a crowd pleasing performance the kind that makes you feel glad inside, makes the crowd holler out for more, lured Elizabeth up on stage to sing the chorus of Mustang Sally and bang a four beats to the bar tambourine against her shapely swaying figure.
The Lee Hedley Band performance was brilliant and well balanced over three forty five minute sets finishing off with a turbo charged version of Baby Please Don’t Go and Got My Mojo Working.
Aaron Loughran was superb with that left handed creativity locking into place seamlessly with Bobby Dyer flailing like an octopus with an itch on drums.
Lou Campbell’s fretwork grooves along like a locomotion running on soul and rhythm and his lead lines should be on the grid with a wealth of delightful influences.
The collectively honed skills of the Lee Hedley Band is obviously the result of a fluent familiarity with each other’s technical vernacular, cultivated and cured over time, fat harp tones, tight rhythms, classic covers given a hard driving facial and delivered with an upbeat and spirited enthusiasm.
This was the polished flow of a well rehearsed and nimble live set, from one of the best assured, friendly and entertaining harmonica playing front men working a stage with his band of merry men.
“Give me one more shot bartender
Just before I go
Give me one more shot bartender
Just before I go
I have had my fun
I don’t feel well no more
Give me one more shot
Give me one more shot
Give me one more shot
I’ll knock my own self out “
Mick Kenny aka MTW
Coming soon to:
Saturday Afternoon Classic Rock Tune Time on DublinCity Anna Livia 103.2 FM Online
