I've been lucky enough to see several great blues musicians when they came to the UK. The highlight of them all was seeing Reverend Gary Davis at the Free Trades Hall in Manchester in 1965. I was at college in Leeds at the time and didn't really know much about him. An older and more experienced musician friend and his wife drove us all across the Pennines in his Land Rover to see the concert. The other people on the bill were, in order, Julie Felix, Derroll Adams & Jack Elliott, Buffy Ste. Marie - and then Davis. I waited impatiently for the man to come on, which he did, walking straight to the mic stand, hanging his white stick from it, saying "Hello Mike!" - and then swinging his J200 round from his back and launching into a wonderful display of guitar playing and impassioned singing. A night I'll remember for ever.
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