What a difference three months touring makes. Last February the 2015 Blues Caravan/Girls With Guitars made a splash at the Skegness Rock & Blues Festival, but only got about 45 minutes to show what they can do.

A few months down the line and over 35 gigs later, their show has now been stretched past the two hour mark, and the three front line musicians have magically morphed into a fun filled band with real swagger.

The Blues Caravan / Girls With Guitars 2015 is arguably the best line-up in its 11 year history. Whereas previously label boss Thomas Ruf managed to pull together three disparate talents and make them work as a touring unit, this line-up featuring Heather Crosse on bass and vocals, Eliana Cargnelutti on guitar and vocals,  the live-wire Sarah Johnson on guitar and vocals and the rock solid Jamie Little on drums gels together seamlessly.

The trio’s natural spontaneity and vibrant personalities is shaped into two long sets of well balanced, self penned, material complete with crowd pleasing covers. It’s a show worthy of the Blues Caravan moniker.

They dip into rock, boogie and blues  and even resurrect Dave Mason’s ‘Feelin’ Alright’ for good measure!

The show opens with ‘Girl Band’, their power chord anthem, on which each band member sings a verse, before collectively hitting the chorus with a ferocity that underpins the mission statement of the song.

There’s no doubting the unique chemistry that fills the stage tonight. The band strikes a perfect equilibrium with band member bringing a different musical element to the set.  Italian hot-shot guitarist Eliana Cargnelutti also has a much more powerful vocal range  than her own recorded output suggests.

And while the band is the equal sum of its parts with everyone taking turns at the front, the effervescent Sadie Johnson hogs centre stage with the sort of unfettered energy levels that is the preserve of youth.

Heather Crosse adds perfect bass lines and deeply wrought soulful vocals on a mix of relationship songs such as ‘You Don’t Love Me Anymore’ and the funky ‘Why Does Woman Need A Bass Guitar’.

Eliana and Sadie harmonize seamlessly on their riff led co-write ‘Wish You Hadn’t Gone’. It’s a searing rock track which actually opens with an Eliana guitar figure and features a big solo from Sadie.  It’s a great example of how all the band members fully contribute to the arrangements.

Eliana nails the vibe of the evening with ‘Why Do I Sing the Blues’ and plays a raucous instrumental boogie only for Sadie to reply with her own jump shuffle, ‘Give Me A Kiss’, on which Eliana peels off a muscular solo.  Not to be outdone Heather Cross stars on the percussive Philly funk and soul of Gwen McCrae’s ‘Rockin’ Chair’.

Eliana also gets soulful on Warren Haynes’s ‘Soul Shine’, and saves one of her best vocals for Etta James’s ‘Something’s Got A Hold On Me’, before the band bring a sense of fun to the rejigged ‘Walking By Myself’, ‘Tore Down’ and best of all, the subtle percussive intro of Dave Mason’s ‘Feelin’ Alright’.

Heather reaches back to the blues for Willy Dixon’s ‘Wang Dang Doodle’ and just when they have apparently hit the ceiling, they veer into a ripping version of ZZ Top’s ‘Tush’.

Tonight the Girls With Guitars mould has been torn asunder and re-invented by a triple musical axis that brings together the often mutually exclusive elements of blues, rock, soul and fun!

How about a live album before they go their separate ways?

Review by Pete Feenstra

Photos 1-5 by Adrian Gee
Photo 6 by Mark Hughes (MHP Studios)

---

Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

Since early 2020 Josh has been entertaining us with exclusive monthly live sessions, streamed via Facebook.

Next session: Sunday 19 January

Check out videos here: https://www.facebook.com/getreadytorockradio

---

David Randall presents a weekly show on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio, Sundays at 22:00 GMT, repeated on Mondays and Fridays), when he invites listeners to ‘Assume The Position’. The show signposts forthcoming gigs and tours and latest additions at getreadytorock.com. First broadcast on 1 December 2024.

UK Blues Broadcaster of the Year (2020 and 2021 Finalist) Pete Feenstra presents his weekly Rock & Blues Show on Tuesday at 19:00 GMT as part of a five hour blues rock marathon “Tuesday is Bluesday at GRTR!”. The show is repeated on Wednesdays at 22:00, Fridays at 20:00). This show was first broadcast 3 December 2024.

How to Listen Live?

Click the programming image at the top of the page (top right of page if using desktop)

Listen via Windows Media Player. Click or tap here and “open file”
Listen via other media player (eg. VLC) Click or tap here and “open file”

Get Ready to ROCK! Radio is also in iTunes under Internet Radio/Classic Rock
Listen in via the Tunein app and search for “Get Ready to ROCK!” and save as favourite.

More information and links at our radio website where you can listen again to shows via the presenter pages: getreadytorockradio.com

---

Power Plays w/c 9 December 2024

In this sequence we play ‘The Best of 2024′ GRTR! reviewer selections

Featured Albums w/c 9 December 2024

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2024 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003-2024 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2024 (Singer Songwriter)

---

---

Popular (last 10 days)

---