The Greg Brice Duo started their Village Hall tour to great acclaim in Weston-sub-Edge Village Hall in the Cotswolds where Greg lived. This was before going to University of Aberdeen and then moving to Shipston-on-Stour. Greg who was playing both acoustic & electric guitar and vocals was joined by The Achievers bassist Jack Thomas, from Stroud, on both upright bass and electric bass.
Both Greg and Jack are past UK Blues Awards nominees, and Jack with The Achievers won the UK Blues Challenge in 2019.
With lots of family and friends in the audience Greg and Jack took to the stage, in what was a hometown show for Greg.
Greg is renowned for his brilliant blues guitar picking and Jack backed him up on both upright bass and guitar with aplomb. After gigging at Blues clubs in Manchester, Leeds and Harrogate, Greg was invited onto the Andy Kershaw radio podcast, which was recognition of Greg’s growing talent.
The set kicked off with an instrumental number ‘Windy and Warm’ before New Orleans Prof Longhair’s ‘Tipitina’ which Greg had translated from piano to guitar which Greg sang with his passionate blues voice. Another song in the set that had also been translated from piano to guitar was Ray Charles’s ‘Hallelujah I Love Her So’
In the first of several songs written/re-arranged while Greg was studying Zooology at the University of Aberdeen we had ‘Bitter Lemon’ which past Fleetwood Mac guitarist Jeremy Spencer had played, which is about making the best you can from a situation, with plaintive vocals from Greg on acoustic guitar.
This was followed by ‘Together But Long Distance’ which was about the distance between Greg and his then girlfriend Steph (now his wife) who was studying in Paris, France. The song is about the uncomfortable journey on a Megabus between the cities, but which consolidated their relationship with a great week together. Another Aberdeen written song was ‘Till I Don’t Know When’ which was about saving the £20 for the Megabus journey to Paris with great guitar picking from Greg with soaring vocals from Greg.
A song written just after the honeymoon period was ‘Come On’ with its early married life blues with upbeat rhythm and strong vocals and great interplay between guitar and bass.
In 2023 Greg supported The Achievers on their 10-year tour, and the next song title came from Toby Wilson (who joined the band on that tour on steel guitar and dobro) from a comment what to watch out for when he returned home! This led to ‘Dog Shit and Glass’ which was an instrumental number.
The first half finished with a couple of personal stories with ‘Working for a Living’ about working in a local deli in Shipston-on-Stour and getting annoyed by the amount spent on customers animals. The song though is an upbeat number on electric guitar. This was followed by ‘Brother’ about Greg’s brother who is a younger taller accountant but who he missed while at University.
After a short beer break Greg and Jack returned with the oldest song in the set with the 1930s written ‘Weeping Willow Blues’ by Blind Boy Fuller, though Greg got to know it from the Steve Tilson version, and featured Jack on upright bass and lovely bluesy vocals and acoustic guitar.
When Greg was a teenager, he used to enjoy going down to Camden Market in London to browse the record shops blues albums and one he found was ‘Red River Blues’ by Josh White which was a slower number with plaintive vocals.
A great transfer from piano to guitar was Paul Simon’s ‘Still Crazy After All These Years’ which Greg will be releasing shortly as a single.
As well as ‘Weeping Willow Blues’ Greg will also be releasing ‘April Showers’ as a single as well as a further three tracks as yet un recorded.
A brand-new song was ‘Slip of the Tongue’ about saying something you regret and maybe the damage has been done. Some great guitar licks and great support by Jack on bass.
This was followed by a trio of covers with The Wood Brothers ‘One More Day’, The Bonfire Band’s ‘Minus 20 Grand’ and ‘As the Crow Flies’ by Tony Joe White with also a great version by Rory Gallagher all of which are great upbeat numbers with the last one featuring some great slide guitar playing by Greg.
To finish the show we had the Sonny Landreth song the instrumental ‘Zydeco Shuffle’ with more slide guitar and picking and then the slower tempo ‘Turn Out the Lights’ with the healing going on tour after the family tragedy with its passionate vocals and matching guitar playing.
After loud applause from the appreciative audience Greg played as an encore the singalong ‘Up Above my Head’ by Sister Rosetta Tharpe.
