Bob\u2019s love of the blues started in the 1960s, listening to The Rolling Stones who were then playing numbers from Muddy Waters, Howling Wolf and Jimmy Reed. He bought the records of these old bluesmen and began a musical odyssey back in time through the 50s, 40s and 30s to the early blues and jug band recordings of the 20s.<\/p>\n
During the 70s and early 80s, Bob appeared at folk clubs and pubs, sometimes solo, more often with a harmonica player \u2013 notably his schoolfriend, Keith Miller. His musical pursuits were then pushed aside due to the pressures of running his own business from the mid-80s until 1999 when he returned to playing the blues and recorded an album Cow Pie \u2013 The First Thirty Years\u009d with Keith Miller and Richard Bolton.<\/p>\n
Bob sold his business, a waste management consultancy, in February 2005 and since then has been able to spend more time enjoying the blues; both listening and playing.<\/p>\n
These days he is a frequent visitor to the Mississippi Delta and the surrounding area, enjoying the blues heritage, the southern hospitality and the present day music scene. During recent trips Bob has played at The Ground Zero Blues Club, Hopson\u2019s, The Delta Amusement Cafe and Red\u2019s in Clarksdale, at Po Monkey\u2019s in Merigold, at The Walnut Street Blues Bar in Greenville and on the KFFA Radio Station in Helena on Sonny Payne\u2019s legendary King Biscuit Time show. He was also one of many blues musicians playing open-air during the 2005 Clarksdale Juke Joint Festival and again in 2006 and every year until 2010.<\/p>\n
In October 2006, Bob appeared in The Tommy Johnson Blues Festival in Crystal Springs, Mississippi and played at The Mardi Gras and 930 Blues clubs in Jackson. In 2007 and again in 2010 he returned to Mississippi for The Second and Fifth Tommy Johnson Festival.<\/p>\n
When at home in Hampshire, England, his gigs are mostly in pubs, restaurants and festivals, notably, Blues & Booze In The Bury at Odiham. He is a frequent performer at Sway Acoustic Blues in The New Forest and he runs a monthly blues jam at The Platform Tavern in Southampton, Hampshire.<\/p>\n