BLUES guitarist and slide player John Williams will bring his vintage powerhouse style to the Border next month.
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Together with his Double Shot Blues band, Williams will feature in the Highway 31 Blues Club on Sunday, October 13, in their new location at Soden's Hotel.
An innovative master of electric blues and slide guitar, Williams has become a leading torchbearer of British Blues Guitar.
With his roots in blues and tuition from Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin founder and guitarist), Williams toured with Page early in his career, spending many hours learning from the master.
Aged 17, Williams was given the task of deputizing for Page in the English rock band The Yardbirds.
During the 1967 tour of New Zealand by The Yardbirds, when the support act was Larry Rebels, Williams was the lead guitarist.
At the Hamilton show, Page was not fit to perform so The Yardbirds singer Keith Relf handed Williams the guitar saying: "You're it. Let's go!"
Luckily, Williams knew all The Yardbirds' songs.
"I just stepped on and did it; it was easy," he said at the time.
Page's musical influence is evident in Williams' trademark guitar style even today.
Double Shot Blues is a world-class band with a powerhouse rhythm section featuring Michael Emmerling on bass and Glenn Roche on drums, with some stunning solos.
Led by Williams, the trio play jaw-dropping blues with rocking riffs and driving boogies.
Their first album 12 Bars of Live Blues took out the 2015 Victoria/Tasmania Blues award for Best Debut Album.
Williams said they finished all of their gigs with their signature original tune titled - coincidentally - Highway 31.
Highway 31 Blues Club will celebrate its seventh birthday during its first gig at Soden's Hotel.
Having outgrown its base at the Newmarket Hotel in East Albury, the club will take up residency at Soden's Hotel Stable Bar, known as Albury's original home of live music.
Club spokeswoman Donna Carroll said it was a timely shift.
"It is a free-standing function room, which will cope with our growing numbers," she said.
"We have our own private beer garden with doors opening out on to it so we can dig the summer breeze and get our groove on."