This year’s second Bendigo Blues & Roots Music Festival Showcase event boasts an 18 act line-up with some familiar faces gracing the two stages.
It all starts at noon on Sunday, July, 17 at the Golden Vine.
The Mojo Corner have a mid-afternoon garden stage slot. And they’re looking forward to getting onstage in Bendigo again.
“A great music scene has developed in Bendigo over the last five years, which has in turn been supported by some fantastic venues,” enthuses The Mojo Corner’s Johnny Hawken.
The Mojo Corner are a four-piece blues outfit from Geelong. Hawken plays guitar and shares vocals with harmonica player Rory Millar. Shaun Hilton on bass, and Will Darker on drums complete the rhythm section.
“There have been a couple of line-up changes over the course,” says Hawken, “but it’s the love of the blues and playing some great music. Most of us have played in a few bands around Geelong. Everything has come together from there.”
Hawken cites parental guidance and the likes of “anything from Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Hendrix and Led Zeppelin to the old blues legends like Howlin Wolf, Muddy Waters, Son House and BB King,” as formative influences.
2016 will see an as-yet untitled third Mojo Corner album following Whole Lotta Woman and Trouble. The quartet have done the hard yards, playing some unusual spots. “We’ve played anywhere. Street sidewalks, back porches, backyards, house roofs, beach lookouts. Anywhere there is a good vibe happening!”
Showcase-goers at the Golden Vine can expect to hear Mojo Corner favourites Uncle Jack, Blues Train Rider and Lone Rider.
Also on the bill, visiting from Sydney, is Cameron James Henderson. Henderson, a one-time classical
guitar student, promises to deliver a set with “raucous elements of Highway 61-era Dylan mixed with the grooves of JJ Cale”.
Familiar names for Bendigo blues and roots fans at the Showcase include Alister Turrill, Sons of the Blues, Andy Phillips and Graciana Holland.
And there will be plenty of young blues and roots talent gracing the stage throughout the day. Bill Barber, along with Bleach’s Sean Nudl and Rhiannon Simpson are all previous Lazenby Young Blues Guitarist Award entrants; Nudl and Simpson eventual winners in 2014 and 2015 respectively. The Bendigo blues future looks to be in good hands.
