Junction Tales

If you care about the contemporary British blues/roots music scene, one name stands out – Errol Linton. The Brixton born, raised and resident singer, harmonica player and songwriter has earned his spurs as leader of the 'most dynamic live band in the UK' – making music that gets audiences dancing and cheering.

 

Errol’s unique blues aesthetic isn’t just a continuation of the traditions laid down by the Chicago giants like Little Walter or Sonny Boy Williamson (I and II), he is an original, a progression. Drawing influences from jazz and reggae, his own funky blues is as much inspired by his London hometown and his Caribbean heritage as it is derived from the electrified shock of the Midwest city blues styles, which in turn was a big city response to the Delta sound along the great Mississippi River. In some ways, Errol’s combination of influences exemplify the restless movements of the original blues of the southern states as it headed north to the mean streets, bars and yards of Chicago and Detroit, and its far-reaching amplification over the radio airwaves to Jamaica, where the progenitors and pioneers of what would become early ska and rocksteady lapped up the blues and R&B records - these new Black music styles developing and transforming surprisingly quickly to become the recognisable reggae sound that has since captured the whole globe.

 

Errol may have started out busking on the streets and underground stations for tips but he is now regarded as THE bluesman in the UK. He won the UK Blues Challenge 2023 and represented the UK Blues Federation both at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis, USA, and the European Blues Challenge in Braga, Portugal. His band regularly play in Belgium, Holland, France, Spain and Poland, and have appeared at Glastonbury and Wilderness festivals.

 

Cerys Matthews, Robert Elms and David Freeman are all radio champions of Errol, while The Guardian described Errol as 'THE figurehead for contemporary British blues'.

 

'At least I’ve got the music to express my pain,' says Errol. 'Pain and joy – we play a lot of happy blues.'

 

Supporting Errol will be another original talent, albeit very different in style and delivery! Kate Shortt is a cellist, pianist, singer-songwriter, poet, educator and comedienne, and will be performing her ‘sit down’ show with cello, keyboard, rap and more! With observational songs covering everything from love to cars, including impressions and live recorded looped improvisations, it's a ride to behold!

 

More about Errol

 

“Errol is as good a harmonica player as anyone can reasonably hope to become; he is the real deal.” - John Waters (legendary BBC Radio producer)

 

With just the right amount of blues mystery, we don’t know a lot about Errol’s early life but we do know that he was born, raised and still lives in Brixton, South London. Errol seemed to appear fully formed busking on the streets of Brixton and across the London Underground, at the same time also blowing evening audiences away on pub and club stages with various lineups. Cap on head, blazing hot harmonica playing and authentic voice, his distinct aesthetic was there from the start. John Peel’s legendary producer John Walters spotted Errol early on, filming Errol for a BBC documentary in 1990.

 

His first release was a cassette only release in 1991 called ‘Homeboy Blues’ where he shared the billing with Pete Smith and Tyrone Balkisoon but it was ‘Vibing It!’, his debut album with his band Errol Linton’s Blues Vibe for Ruby Records (1998), that marked Errol out as the most dynamic new voice in British blues. Receiving extensive radio support from key DJs such as Andy Kershaw, Charlie Gillett and Paul Jones, his second landmark album for the label, ‘Roots Stew’ (2002) solidified his reputation even more. Errol was now recognised internationally as a serious bluesman.

 

Constantly performing, Errol released one final album for Ruby Records, ‘Mama Said’ (2011), before setting up Bra$$dog Records from where he would release three fabulous studio albums of mainly original compositions - ‘Packing My Bags’ (2018),  ‘No Entry’ (2020), and 2024’s ‘Break The Seal’ which featured the brilliant single ‘Country Girl (City Girl)’.

 

“The finest live band in Britain” - Garth Cartwright (The Sunday Times, The Guardian, Songlines, Record Collector, fRoots and Jazzwise)

 

Relentlessly on the road gigging, Errol is the  three-time winner of the ‘UK Blues Harmonica Player of the Year’ award and also won the UK Blues Challenge 2023. He represented the UK Blues Federation both at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis, USA, and the European Blues Challenge in Braga, Portugal. The band regularly play in Belgium, Holland, France, Spain and Poland, and have appeared at Glastonbury and Wilderness festivals.

 

Cerys Matthews, Robert Elms and David Freeman regularly champion Errol on their radio shows, while The Guardian described Errol as the figurehead for contemporary British blues.

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Band line-up

Errol Linton – harmonica, vocals

Gary Williams – drums

Lance Rose – double bass

Petar Zivkovic – piano/keys

Richey Green – guitar

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More about Kate

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“She twists the dials of our genre sensitive minds, hopping from station to station like a pre–digital radio sliding in and out of wave bands.”  - The Art Of Jazz

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Kate was born in Stratford-upon-Avon and was raised in the Midlands and Oxford, music a constant from a young age as she began learning piano and cello at 4 and 5 years old respectively. Having won various cello and piano composition prizes in festivals and the Birmingham Radio (BRMB) prize for piano composition aged 14, she further developed her songwriting using piano and voice. She later studied classical cello at Guildhall School of Music and Drama in addition to jazz cello, singing and piano, also completing the postgraduate leadership course. This broad sweep of musical interests and skills has led Kate to a long and versatile career that encompasses everything from collaborating with pop stars to theatrical and educational projects.

 

Kate debuted her long standing solo show ‘Shortt and Sweett’ in 1991 at the Kings Head Theatre in Islington. Initially conceived as a theatre show with piano ballads, the show transformed into a ‘stand up’ comedy show, with songs and impressions at the cello and piano about daily life. The show has since been performed across the cabaret/comedy scene including the Covent Garden Festival Club and Hackney Vortex Club in London, Austria, the Edinburgh Fringe and more.

 

Swinging easily between the avant-garde and more mainstream spaces, Kate has worked with a wide range of musicians. In the pop world, she has appeared on Top Of The Pops with Tears for Fears and Take That, she has also devised parts and played with Peter Green and his Splinter Group. More recently Kate has worked with guitarist Malcolm Bruce at Shepherds Bush Empire at the memorial concert for his late father, Cream’s Jack Bruce.

 

In the jazz world, Kate performs and records regularly with various artists, including Christine Tobin, Phil Robson, Dave Whitford, John Etheridge, Orphy Robinson, Estelle Kokot, Lola Perrin, Gene Calderazzo and Cleveland Watkiss. She is also a member of the Northern Lights Symphony Orchestra (N.L.S.O.) and is in the Austrian trio ‘Line 3’ with composer/pianist Norbert Zehm. She is a regular band member of the Portuguese fado singer Claudia Aurora, with whom she has toured Europe and recently recorded her new album ‘Mulher Do Norte’. In the contemporary theatre world she has performed and toured with composer Jocelyn Pook and performs regularly as a free improviser with pianist Liam Noble and poet and Crass co-founder Penny Rimbaud.

 

Kate is also a workshop leader and music tutor, having led the Hackney Borough Youth Choir for many years and is a conductor, composer and arranger for the Hackney Children’s Singing Festival for whom she has composed various songs:

 

Kate Shortt has delivered workshops and inset training days for class teachers in England and Europe focusing on compositional ideas and themes using voice and percussion. She was assistant animateur for the London Symphony Orchestra between 2004 and 2008 helping deliver projects across London Boroughs that were performed at the Barbican.

 

Her first album, ‘Something To Tell You’ (2007) is an amalgamation of styles influenced by jazz, theatre, film and various artists from Elton John to the Beatles.

 

Kate has also won the Performer of the Year award at the London Palladium.