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This is the archive of the combined Barking Spider and Andy Broad Portsmouth Blues Site mailing lists.
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Don't miss MIKE WEST at The R.M.A. Tavern tomorrow, Tuesday 10th May!!!!!!! Mike West rips on a banjo and sings songs that hit close, sometimes too close, to home. His eighth CD, "New South" takes a tour through the new Confederacy. Roaring up from the Gulf coast to the Ozark mountains in a truck with no muffler, West tells stories against a backdrop of busted refrigerators and stripped down muscle cars. With a quick wit and fast fingers, he rolls together humour, politics, love, loss and foot stomping music. West lives in New Orleans, where he plays the French Quarter clubs from sunset to sun-up, but the skinny troubadour also shows up on stages in Holland, England and Australia. He's no stranger to Portsmouth adiences, and a memorable gig was when West performed as support to the legendary Country Joe McDonald (of Country Joe & The Fish) at Southsea bandstand. West gigs three hundred nights a year across three continents, performing at festivals, schools and bars from Chicago to Wagga Wagga. His exceptional song writing and musicianship have earned him accolades including The Big Easy Entertainment Award for "Best Country/Folk Artist" and several awards for "Best Album" and "Best Artist" from Off Beat Magazine. Ten years ago, the Australian born singer came to America with a toothbrush, two clean shirts and a taste for hillbilly music. "As a kid, I strummed guitar for loose change in train stations." says West, "One day I heard a guy picking a banjo in the street so loud that it drowned out the traffic noise. I knew then that it was the instrument for me." West settled in the Ninth Ward of New Orleans, took up banjo and mandolin, and began writing songs about his neighbourhood. He has built an international reputation as an energetic entertainer who can get a Mardi Gras crowd clogging, and as an insightful lyricist with a skewed but accurate view of life in South Louisiana. He also produces many up-and-coming songwriters at his studio, and on rare days off he picks mandolin on the steps of his shot gun house, down river from the casino and up river from the oil refinery. You can see MIKE WEST tommorrwo- Tuesday 10th May - at The R.M.A Tavern, Cromwell Rd., Southsea., and it's free admission, too!