Shipston-on-Stour based Greg Brice, and his Trio, rocked up to Cotswolds Distillery in Stourton, Warwickshire for a gig arranged by Tim Porter. The line-up was Greg Brice (guitar & vocals) and the rhythm section from the Stroud band The Achievers with Aron Attwood (drums) and Jack Thomas (bass).
Greg’s traditional style blues has garnered a rising group of fans with nominations for the UK Blues Federation’s awards for the last couple of years. His blues and roots influences include the Wood Brothers from New York, whose album Greg bought from Camden Market in London as a 17-year-old, Professor Longhair from New Orleans and Sonny Landreth from Nashville.
They started with an original song with ‘Work for a Living’ with great harmonies from Greg and Aron singing the higher part followed by ‘Sing About It’ which started with Aron on recorder before the band kicked in with a slower blues beat with great solo guitar from Greg.
The first half continued with the mix of original songs ‘Come On’, ‘Till I don’t Know When’ which was written in Aberdeen while Greg was studying for a Zoology degree. He didn’t finish it as his guitar playing and song writing took over!
Also included were the Professor Longhair song ‘Tipitina’, a new song for the set with Bob Dylan song ‘Tonight I’m Staying here with You’ and the blues classic ‘Hallelujah I Love Her So’.
The second half included three songs with Greg solo including ‘Trouble in Mind’ with its soulful blues vocals and laid-back tempo. With the trio back on stage they covered a Generation Jones (Chipping Camden) song ‘My Life’ but with Greg’s treatment. The original song ‘Together But Long Distance’ covered the time where Greg’s girlfriend was studying in Paris while he was in Aberdeen and covered the 24 hour Megabus journey.
The Allman Brothers song ‘Midnight Rider’ was also played live for the first time with its great harmonies and heavy backing beat. A couple of Rock N Roll songs were covered ‘My Babe’ and ‘Minus Twenty Grand’ from London band The Bonfire Band. The set finished with the Sonny Landreth song ‘Zydeco Shuffle’ and for the encore the singalong song ‘Up Above My Head’
