Midweek riffs night
Free acoustic nights at the Swan at Compton
THE Swan at Compton has several acoustic gigs lined up for its Wednesday riffs acoustic nights, the next being Phil King on October 12.
King released his debut album Leaves in 2006 to good national and local reviews.
In recent years he has performed all over the UK, including festivals such as Glastonbury, Guilfest, Ashton Court Fest, The Sunrise Celebration, Priddy Folk Festival, Cheltenham Jazz Festival, Bath Fringe, Trowbridge Pump Festival and Bristol Harbourside.
He has supported many touring artists, including Amp Fiddler, Kate Walsh, Jon Allen, Foy Vance, Karima Francis, Emmy the Great, Ruby Turner, Chris Farlowe and Tina Dico, and has also shared a stage with many other great artists including Beth Rowley and Alice Russell.
He has had his music played on many local radio stations and also by Bob Harris, Steve Lamacq and Alex Lester on BBC Radio 2, and also plays regularly with The Forster King Band, which he founded with guitarist James Forster in 2004.
They released the album Keep the Music Playing in October 2006, featuring five original songs written by King and Forster alongside their favourite covers by the likes of BB King, Dr John and Muddy Waters.
After three albums and thousands of gigs, UK and European festivals and a decade of making music, Bruise will perform on Wednesday, October 19.
This duo are probably Britain's best kept secret and they have supported, collaborated with and performed sessions with artists as varied as great blues/folk songwriter and guitar virtuoso Mark Knopfler, spacerock royalty Hawkwind, country phenomenon Leanne Rimes, and folk performer Dick Gaughan.
This emotionally-driven band have recently released their third and definitive album Little Victories, receiving good reviews from the indie-press and are currently touring to promote it.
Joe Blay (Yusuf B'layachi) will perform on Wednesday, October 26.
He took to the guitar at an early age after seeing his grandfather playing the oud and quickly learnt the acoustic guitar and then the bass, electric, and classical guitar.
But it is his unique finger-picking style on the steel strung acoustic that Yusuf is most expressive and at one with.
Yusuf's father took the family from southern Morocco to the UK where he entrusted the jazz guitarist Hugh Turner to teach his son. It was here that Yusuf began to interpret the sounds of the jazz greats such as Thelonious Monk, John Coltrane and Miles Davis. It would be some 10 years before these influences would resurface again combined with the Middle Eastern and classical worlds when Yusuf formed the B'layachi-Cousins Duo.
He continues to write music, ever fascinated with the crossing of stylistic boundaries and has written many compositions for the guitar. To broaden his musical language he has been tutored by Walter Fabeck the London based composer and pianist.
All the performances start at 8pm and entry is free.
