Award-winning Canadian blues-man Steve Strongman is a versatile talent, and a restless one. By constantly pushing himself in new directions, he has kept himself vital. His talent is huge and impossible to miss, and it’s matched by his staggering musical ambition — as guitar-slinger, songwriter or vocalist. The same structures and progressions that animate blues and roots music can also choke the air out of it, smothering it in caricature and cliché. But Strongman is a subtle shape-shifter who manages to slip that trap without betraying the music he loves. Throughout, he never sounds an inauthentic note or loses touch with the essence of the blues.
Carlos del Junco, Cuban-Canadian harmonica master, fashions sound the way Michelangelo sculpted his David: with daring and sensuality! Considered one of the world's greatest harmonica players, he is a pioneer of the "overblow" technique, allowing him to play a diatonic harmonica chromatically. The result is stunning: a sophisticated blues/jazz fusion from gut-bucket-raw to the sublime.
Both players have heavyweight credentials on the International Blues scene. And both have multiple awards that would fill a whole page. Both are Juno nominees (Steve Strongman is a Juno winner!) and multiple Maple Leaf Blues award winners. Carlos has had the privilege of collaborating with some some of the top Canadian blues artists over they years and this is no exception. They've played together a number of times over the years in southern Ontario, so it's a special treat to get to see these two join forces for the first time in Northumberland County.
Not to be missed!