ROCKABILLY / BLUES / COUNTRY / COUNTRY GOSPEL

Sleepy LaBeef, vocals and guitar Dave Keyes, keyboards Gary Frazier, bass Drums www.sleepylabeef.com

Sleepy LaBeef has already made two appearances at Blues to Bop but every year since there have been so many requests for his return that, five years on, the Big Man is back! But what is a living legend of American popular music doing at a festival of blues and of jazz? The answer is that, ignoring the irresistible personal appeal of this wonderful artist for a moment, Sleepy is living proof of how the older generation of country singers had a far wider musical perspective than was at first suspected. Their music was rooted in the afro-american tradition just as that of the black bluesmen was rooted in white traditions. This means that in Sleepy’s music, elements from country, blues, jazz and gospel are brought together into a dynamic style that is as fresh today as it was at the beginning of the fifties when it captured the imagination of a whole new international audience: music the blues to bop range! At our festival Sleepy is accompanied by the musicians he chose to have with him for his recent triumph in New York during festival held at the Lincoln Centre in honour of the creators of Rock ‘n Roll.