It’s high time we got down and dirty

BACK in the 1970s, when I probably should have been paying a bit more attention to my day job as a journalist rather than rock ‘n’ rolling round the pubs and clubs in God’s country of Warwickshire, a new guitarist kid on the block caught my attention.

The blues boom of the 1960s was long gone, punk was all the rage, and the dreary vestiges of prog rock were still crowding the airwaves.

Tales from Topographic Oceans? Yup, I reckon that stinker must have been the pinnacle of what seemed like an endless ordeal by vinyl.

Yes indeed, these were truly desperate days, and at the time I recall looking longingly at the cyanide pills jar. If only someone or something could revive my fading spirit with a big shot of rhythm and blues… I would be saved.

Ah, the hot-headedness of the young. All right, young-ish. But be patient my boy, be patient… Freedom Day will one day dawn bright, and those lethargic lugs will finally be liberated.

Later around 1980-81, I was thrilled to briefly play in a scratch band with that same young axe slinger, who by now had been making a name for himself around the Leamington Spa area and further afield.

This weekly gig was a Sunday lunchtime scene in the cellar bar of Winston's, one of the town’s nightspots. I suppose it was residency of sorts, the band’s personnel varying from week to week, depending on who was around.

And yes, it was R&B - rather than roast beef, Yorkshire pudding and with all trimmings - that was on this particular Sunday lunchtime menu.

Fast forward a year or two, taking in a pit stop with top Midlands outfit Chevy, and that new kid on the block found his ideal musical home. For like the cavalry in an old time western, a band called Dr Feelgood had arrived to save the musical day, with a bang loud enough to even wake Howlin’ Wolf in his grave.

And guess what? After featuring a number of guitarists, most famously the legendary Wilko Johnson, that now older kid on the block had landed himself a job playing alongside vocalist and mouth harp player Lee Brilleaux, the man who almost single-handedly pioneered the return of blues-based rock in Britain.

Anyway… a band featuring stars from the aforementioned Dr Feelgood, The Specials and Badfinger is to perform a special pre-Christmas gig in Birmingham next month.

The Dirt Road Band, with Horace Panter on bass, Steve Walwyn on guitar and vocals – yes, that one-time new kid on the block - and Ted Duggan on drums, will play at Henry’s Blueshouse on Tuesday, December 16.

And they’re promising to treat music lovers to the “up close and personal” experience during what is a free admission show on the ground floor bar of Snobs on Broad Street.

Panter’s career has included 42 years in The Specials, while Walwyn spent 32 years with Dr Feelgood, and Duggan has played drums for Badfinger, The Beat and The Selector. The trio have been regularly touring as The Dirt Road Band since 2022.

Jim Simpson, the city’s seasoned music impresario who runs Henry’s Blueshouse every Tuesday via the Big Bear Music company, said: “What a great pre-Christmas treat this will be for music lovers.

“The Dirt Road Band play hard, punchy blues rock music that really makes your heart beat faster, and it will be incredible to see such an up close and personal set at Henry’s.”

Simpson first ran Henry’s in the late 1960s at The Crown in Birmingham, where early bands included Earth – who he initially managed as they went on to invent heavy metal music as Black Sabbath.

He added: “We are expecting a fully packed house as fans of two-tone, ska, rock, and rhythm and blues turn up to see their heroes.”

Steve Walwyn explained how The Dirt Road Band was looking forward to its date at Henry’s because they love playing to small audiences at cosier venues.

He said: “It’s where we all started, up close with the audience, and it’s always a great atmosphere. Of course it’s nice to play bigger venues, but the atmosphere of a small, packed venue is hard to beat. That’s the beating heart of rock ’n’ roll in my opinion.

“Our music boils down to simplicity and honesty, we’re a stripped-back three-piece which is pretty well as simple as it gets, blues-based, but we get to rock out too!”

Walwyn revealed that his partnership with Panter and Duggan goes back to the early 1980s. He said: “In Horace’s case, we both played in The Mosquitos, a Leamington-based blues band with a shifting line-up depending on who was available to play a gig.

“On one occasion, Horace was playing with The Mosquitos at the Green Dragon pub in Stratford-upon-Avon when Ghost Town was riding high in the charts.

“Ted and I had played in Red on Red – a Leamington rock band which achieved some success in the mid-1980s. We put The Dirt Road Band together and curiously, although Ted and Horace were both from Coventry, they had never played together until our first rehearsal.

“But within a couple of minutes playing together it was obvious that we had something, and what began as a fun side-project has now taken centre-stage.”

The Dirt Road Band’s debut album Righteous has received critical acclaim, and the musicians are planning a follow-up some time in 2026.

The Dirt Road Band’s full schedule of live shows is at www.dirtroadband.com, and the latest Henry’s Blueshouse listings are at www.bigbearmusic.com/hbhouse/. 

Footnote: Big Bear Music Group has been based in Birmingham since 1968. Its operations include Big Bear Records, probably the UK’s longest established independent record company, which is at the forefront of jazz, swing and blues, with more than 100 album releases. Since 1985, Big Bear Music has organised the annual Birmingham Jazz & Blues Festival, Europe’s biggest free admission jazz party every July, bringing international bands to venues across the West Midlands. Big Bear Music also operates Henry’s Blueshouse, Birmingham’s home of the blues since 1968.