Website [Release date 20.03.26]

Only the good die young they say, and bluesman Matt Long must have been a real good guy judging by the amount of artists offering their services on this tribute album. This list includes Joe Bonamassa, Elles Bailey, The Cinelli Bros, Walter Trout, Jac Shultz, and my goodness like a stone in a pond, the ripples go ever wider.

It is a 16 track double album of some of the best blues your gonna hear this year. All the tracks are covers of Matt Long songs, apart from the title song , which was written by a couple of lads from Liverpool called Lennon and McCartney. If you haven’t come across him, it is a great introduction to the wide range of songs he wrote. From acoustic roots to full on electric blues, to almost punky rock songs.

Matt was the creative force of, and fronted the award winning UK band Catfish. He also had a little side hustle with The Revenant Ones. After being named the Instrumentalist Of The Year twice at the UK Blues Awards, Matt sadly left us through bowel cancer at the tender age of 29. But he left us some great songs, which means he will never be forgotten, and these songs are interpreted by a bunch of great mates on this album.

First up is Broken Man, which Joe Bonamassa overdubs guitar on a track laid down by a great bunch of musicians including Dudley Ross, who is featured heavily throughout the album including his own track with Katie Bradley. Matt serves up a delicious vocal. And What an opener – A gargantuan slice of southern style blues. You can almost hear the crickets chirp on the quiet parts. It opens with some careful picking on a resonator, and after some ups and downs lead up to an almighty jam style end. After the jam it falls back to the sparse resonator and vocal. What an expertly crafted song

Next is Have My Say, a Revenant Ones number done by The Zac Schulze Gang, which is the first of the rockier numbers, and it rocks for sure.

Track 3 and we have Matt’s buddy and album sleeve designer, Alice Armstrong with Archangel, a slow blues number delivered in Alice’s inimitable style. You are just waiting for her to roar like a lion, and she doesn’t disappoint. Neither does the backing track, which includes Paul Long, Matts father, who also co wrote the song, Nat Martin, who was one of Matts guitar tutors at the Academy of Contemporary music in Guildford, Adam Pyke from Catfish on bass, Kev Hickman from The Revenant Ones on drums, Alex Voysey on second guitar and Lindsey Bonnick and Chloe Josephine from Brave Rival on bv’s.

To round off Side 1 Elles Bailey teams up with the Cinelli Bros on a song called Better Days. Being the silly Billy that I am, when I first saw the title I thought ooh I wonder if that is the Southside Johnny song donated to him by Bruce Springsteen, but then quickly thought better, because this is an album of Matt Long songs, however with a little quirk the backing track is very reminiscent of The Asbury Dukes replete with brass section, and a harmonica solo by Paul Jones. This is a real feel good soul infused blues and the pairing works perfectly.

To light the fuse for side two we have UK Blues Awards Best Band winners,, and Joe Bonamassa’s favourite new discovery Brave Rival. The song is called Up In Smoke, and smoke it does, with some killer fret work from Ed Clarke, some in the pocket drumming from Donna Peters, working hand in hand with bassist Billy Dedman, and the jewel in the crown, or the voice in the wreath Lindsey Bonnick.

And then an acoustic number from no other than bluesbuster in a ballgown, Chantel Macgregor. This, for me anyway, is a really nice departure from her usual three piece electric blues, which she delivers magnificently live, but this really makes her voice shine in a vulnerable way, and feels very personal.

In complete contrast, the very versatile vocalist from symphonic metal band Seven Spires, Adrienne Cowan delivers The Root Of All Evil, in a very demonic Seven Spires kind of way. She puts a lot of mileage into her life this young lady, and it’s lucky for this album that she had time to do this track, which seems so appropriate for her. There is some sumptuous Hammond organ into the middle of the song, courtesy of Toby Lee Marshall, before handing over to a searing guitar solo, from the fingers of Nicolas Meier.

And as he started side one, so Matt Long finishes side two with All I ask Of You. This time with Walter Trout on guitar duties. A very emotional song, this slow blues finds Matt pouring his all into the vocal delivery, which is topped with a blistering solo from Ex Bluesbreaker and liver transplant survivor, Walter Trout.

Exile sparks off side three delivered by Sean Webster. This song starts as a soul infused blues, then has a short burst of heavy metal, before once again melting into a more traditional blues. It is a fascinating song and Sean’s voice is perfect for it, being not dissimilar to Matts. I loved this song, played it three times in a row on first listening. It’s powerful.

Apparently Matt suffered from depression and anxiety, and explored those feelings in his songs, and you can really feel it in this song, and others, including All I Ask Of You. The musicians for this include Paul Long on Keys, Adan Pyke on Bass and Phil Wilson on drums, or Catfish as they are known to their fans, with Sean Webster and Ash Wilson on guitars, with Chloe Josephine on bv’s again

London’s finest and UK Blues Federation Band Of The Year winners The Cinnelli Brothers hit the ground running with – Hit The Ground Running. A fine, toe tapping rockabilly blues in the vein of The Stones Hip Shake. Featuring some fine guitar duelling from Marco Cinelli and Tom Julian Jones, it motors along and has you jigging with it whether sat down or stood up cooking.

A sparse working blues, Soulbreaker, is presented by husband and wife team, Grace and Aaron Bond, or Where Rivers Meet to their fans. With a four to floor kick drum, sultry vocals, snaky slide guitar, and swampy bv’s you wouldn’t expect anything less from these two. I love this kind of blues.

Change My Ways is a shuffling Chicago type Blues introduced by Katie Bradley’s shimmering harmonica and Dudley Ross’s guitar. It kicks into gear with Katie’s smouldering blues voice, and doesn’t let up all the way through. Dudley plucks some fine notes from his guitar, and appears to have a little guitar duel with himself. I thought there was another guitarist on the number but there isn’t This song builds and builds with blues tension.

Well this boy isn’t called Will Harmonica Wilde for nothing. On Break Me Down, a Dr Feelgood, 70’s pub rock kinda blues, Will plays some of the most amazing harmonica work I’ve ever heard. He’s like the Yngwie Malmsteen of the harmonica, pumping out notes from his harp faster than a machine gun

Another Revenant Ones song is served up by UK Blues Federations Emerging Act Of The Year 2025, Blue Nation, a Birmingham based blues rock trio. Taking It All is a southern rock Black Crowes tinged stick of dynamite

The penultimate song So, is covered by multi award winning Irish Blues guitarist Dom Martin. It is an emotive sensitive acoustic song, sung perfectly by Dom’s rasping blues voice, and accompanied by simple but very effective acoustic guitar. A tear formed in my eye listening to this, and I had to wipe it away before the beginning of With A Little Help From My Friends. It is a live version of this song, arguably made more famous by Joe Cocker than The Beatles.

It is down this road which Matt treads with help from Brave Rival, The Cinelli Brothers, Will Wilde and Ben Poole. What a bunch of friends to get help from. It was recorded at the Stables, Wavendon in 2025

I must say I am amazed by the broad range of styles Matt incorporated into his song writing, whist still remaining under the blues umbrella. Personally I think it’s the sign of a great songwriter if they can go outside the box of their chosen genre, but still remain true to it in spirit. This is a really varied and versatile collection of songs, presented by the top blues and rock artists of the moment, and the listener will not tire of listening to the whole album for a long long time.

All the proceeds from this well paced, and carefully curated album will be donated to the cancer ward at The Royal Surrey County Hospital in Guildford where Matt received treatment. It is a true and lasting legacy to this young man’s career. His parents Fiona and Paul can feel safe in the knowledge that Matt won’t be forgotten about any time soon. Quite the contrary I predict this will bring on a whole new legion of fans

And finally a massive round of applause and doffing of caps to all the artists who contributed so uniquely to this special piece of Blues History. *****

Review by Andy Sharrocks

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