Blues artist Big Daddy Wilson - 'Thumb a Ride' NZ Tour with back to the roots acoustic blues...
Big Daddy Wilson was born in the small town of Edenton, North Carolina. “We were very poor, but I had a beautiful childhood. As a child I worked in the tobacco and cotton fields, I was a real country boy. I quit school at the age of 16, and later joined the US Army. I met the blues in Germany, where I still live today. I’ve been writing poems and songs long before I started singing the Blues, I didn’t know what it was, but it was mixed in my blood, I was born with the blues. So I started Back to the Roots Acoustic Blues, just me and a guitar player”.
Big Daddy Wilson’s music is all heart and natural soul, with a fabulous warm baritone voice. He draws from a wide stylistic spectrum from blues, folk, soul and gospel.
Accompanied by old bandmate and good friend Steve “Guitar” Gilles.
Steve Guitar Gilles was born 1962 in Germany, started playing guitar as a teenager just in time to join several High School bands in their quest for fame. In his late twenties he teamed up with Big Daddy Wilson to form the Carolina Blues Connection, a five piece band mainly focussing on modern Blues, R&B and Soul that left its mark on many Blues and Jazz clubs and festivals in North Germany during the early nineties. After immigrating to New Zealand in '96 Steve was the founding member of successful and popular band 'Gecko'.
This tour will celebrate a very special reunion between two old friends as they again explore the spirit of Back to the Roots Acoustic Blues.
Appearing In support - Delgirl
Dunedin 'folkpop' band Delgirl has a repertoire that straddles everything from roots, Pacifica, folk, country and even ‘pop’ music, according to some reviewers. These three songwriters, Erin Morton, John Dodd & Lynn Vare, write songs from the heart and the everyday world. Their fluid, luminous voices meld with guitar, ukulele, banjo, trumpet and stand-up bass in songs that groove with a sweet-tempered ease. In January 2009, Delgirl landed the Recording Industry Association (RIANZ) Award for Folk Album of the Year for their first album Two, Maybe Three, Days Ride. Now they’re hitching a ride with Big Daddy Wilson, bringing their songs of love, death (a seal possibly), rogues and rages along on the journey!
