Manchester Blues Festival returns this October with international and homegrown talent
Manchester Blues Festival returns on Sunday 18 October, bringing a full day of live blues to The Carlton Club in Whalley Range. Founded in 2024, the grassroots festival will run from the afternoon through to midnight, mixing established international names with musicians from Manchester and the wider UK blues scene. This year’s programme moves between […]
Wood Burnt Red release debut album ‘Hold On Tight’
UK Southern rock four-piece Wood Burnt Red have released their debut album Hold On Tight, an eleven-track collection that brings together country storytelling, blues-rock muscle and the chemistry of a band built on years of friendship. Released today, 4 September, the album arrives alongside new single ‘Best Things’, a tongue-in-cheek Southern rock stomper that takes […]
Ben Poole shares upbeat new single ‘Time Has No Mercy’
Ben Poole has released ‘Time Has No Mercy’, the third single from his forthcoming album Post-Midnight Behaviour, due on 25 September through Gypsy Soul Records. Following the darker tone of previous singles ‘No Second Chances’ and ‘Empty’, the new track deliberately changes direction. Built around punchy power chords and a more urgent rock feel, it […]
Steve Cropper’s final album arrives with Brian May and Billy Gibbons on ‘My Angels Are Calling’
Steve Cropper’s posthumous album Watching The Tide is out now through Provogue / Artone Label Group, accompanied by the release of the deeply moving ‘My Angels Are Calling’, featuring Brian May and Billy Gibbons. The track brings together three of rock and soul’s most recognisable guitar names, although May takes an unexpected role at its […]
Blues Matters Issue 165 is out now with The Boneshakers on the cover
The September 2026 issue of Blues Matters is now live and available to read free online, with The Boneshakers taking the cover of Issue 165. Headlined Pull Up The Roots, the cover feature leads another wide-ranging edition packed with interviews, artist stories, festival coverage and the latest from across the blues world. The Boneshakers lead […]
Mavis Staples, Union Chapel London – Live review
13th August 2026 Considering the number of palaces within London’s limits it should be no surprise that we frequently attract musical royalty, and on this summer evening The Union Chapel welcomed a returning Queen of Soul, Gospel and Blues all the way from Chicago, Ms. Mavis Staples. First with The Staple Singers and later through […]
The Damn Truth release ‘Killer Whale’ ahead of UK tour and deluxe album
The Damn Truth have released ‘Killer Whale’, a new single taken from the forthcoming deluxe edition of their JUNO Award-nominated self-titled album. Out now on all major streaming platforms, the track arrives with a new official music video and comes just days before the Canadian rock band begin their latest run of UK shows. The […]
Eddie 9V lets loose on new single ‘Whole Lot Coming For You’
Eddie 9V has released ‘Whole Lot Coming For You’, the latest single from his forthcoming album Down Here, due on 6 November through Easy Eye Sound. Produced by Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys, the album marks Eddie 9V’s first release for Auerbach’s Nashville-based Easy Eye Sound label. Where previous single ‘Blowin’ Up’ leaned into […]
Joanne Shaw Taylor looks back on love lost with ‘The Girl That You Loved Before’
Joanne Shaw Taylor has released ‘The Girl That You Loved Before’, the latest single from her forthcoming album The Trouble With Love, due on 23 October through Journeyman Records. The new track finds Taylor looking back on a past relationship with the benefit, and complication, of distance. Rather than focusing on the moment of a […]
Erja Lyytinen celebrates 50th birthday with new live album and UK tour
Erja Lyytinen will mark her 50th birthday with a major new live release, 50th Birthday Live 2026, arriving on 9 October through Tuohi Records. Available as a double CD/DVD package and double vinyl, the release captures Lyytinen’s birthday concert at the House of Culture in Helsinki on 21 March 2026, alongside a second live recording […]