'˜Healing' blues at The Hawth from master guitarist Doug MacLeod

Doug is the winner of many Blues Music Awards, including the 2016 Acoustic Artist Of The Year and the 2013 Blues Blast Music Award for Male Artist Of The Year.

Spokeswoman Lorraine McGregor said: “The perennial Blues Music Award nominee is a prolific singer, songwriter, an engaging storyteller, and a masterful guitarist born in the blues and rooted in the American tradition.”

She continued: “He is a travelling artist that writes and sings original songs based on his own life and experiences.

“He learned from the old masters, lived the music, survived the life and carries forward a valuable tradition. MacLeod is known for his superb songwriting, guitar wizardry, warm soulful vocals, wit and unforgettable live performances.

“At the heart of this is his knack for storytelling, bringing characters, from the faceless to the legendary, to strikingly real life.

“While he developed his rich, soulful singing style MacLeod also worked out a unique, unorthodox and powerfully rhythmic acoustic guitar style. The rage of his turbulent youth was eventually channelled through his guitar, using his relentless right hand to pound out an insistent, churning beat to complement his intricate bottleneck and finger-style technique.

“MacLeod’s playing landed him sideman gigs with George ‘Harmonica’ Smith, Big Joe Turner, Pee Wee Crayton, Eddie ‘Cleanhead’ Vinson, Lowell Fulson and Big Mama Thornton. Under their tutelage, he learned how to thrill and enrapture a crowd. Over 29 years, 19 studio albums, several live records, compilations, a blues guitar instructional DVD and a live performance DVD, MacLeod has consistently earned rave reviews.

“Like the old masters who taught him, MacLeod’s music expresses life and times via an intangible, elusive quality that may simply be a keen sense of what matters most. There is a philosophical and healing side to MacLeod’s music and stories that has helped others overcome the hardships of their lives.”

Tickets cost £14 (unreserved) from The Hawth Box Office on 01293 553636.

Alternatively, visit www.hawth.co.uk. The show is presented in association with Crawley Blues Club.

More music at The Hawth

Arrival – The Hits of ABBA is at the venue on Wednesday, July 27 (7.30pm).

This high energy show features the vast catalogue of hits loved by many generations, including ‘Mamma Mia’, ‘Dancing Queen’, ‘Waterloo’ and ‘Super Trouper’.

Tickets cost £21.

Five-piece band Randevu perform Lithuanian and Russian romantic songs at The Hawth on Friday, July 29 (8pm).

These songs were heard in restaurants and cafés in the 1920s and ’40s by artists such as Antanas Šabaniauskas and Daniel Dolski. The band are joined by Miestelenai, a 16-piece dance ensemble performing waltzes, polkas and tangos from the same era.

Tickets cost £11.

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