Laura Collins and the Back Porch Blues Band and Bill Hickman

Sunday Special ｜Laura Collins and the Back Porch Blues Band and Bill Hickman

This Sunday Special will be all about up front performances and entertainment. Sunday 13 August at Meow, doors 3.30pm, show from 4.00 – 6.30pm.

Bill Hickman will ignite our afternoon, the word ‘opening’ does not fit here. Bill will play a solo acoustic set like he’s fronting rock band. Strong and intensely committed Bill can deliver a song like it’s his last chance.

A self described ‘folkie with a chip on his shoulder’ Bill’s song writing runs the gamut from murder and outlaws to absent friends, love and gratitude. With a strong, gravel dragged voice and country inflected acoustic guitar; fans of Warren Zevon, Johnny Cash and Townes van Zandt will find touchstones in his originals and selected covers.

From intimate fingerstyle to shaking the stage with his conviction Bill Hickman’s music is made for people who still want to believe a song can be the most important thing in the world.

Laura Collins and the Back Porch Blues Band will then bring their ‘show’ of high energy, cheek and vocal strength. Laura celebrates her band and giving them licence to shine and shine they do, Wayne Mason, of course also known for being one of our much-loved singer songwriters, here is the master of boogie ‘burning it up’ on the keys and adding his iconic voice to the vocal mix. Think Fats Domino, think Dr John, think Professor Longhair and you’ll be in the right honky tonk.

John O’Connor will be ‘eating it up’ on lead guitar, never self-indulgent – just soulful and astonishing. He’s played with everyone along the way, from BB King to Kiri Te Kanawa.

The rhythm section brings a warm acoustic volume with George Barris on tasty upright bass and Peter Cogswell on the ‘back porch’ drums proving that you don’t need to be loud to groove.

The lads offer four-part vocal harmony to Laura’s lead, combining often for a lush gospel blues sound.

Expect to hear a little Francine Reed, Catherine Russell, Fats Domino, Bonnie Raitt, Nina Simone, some of Laura’s own and others she can put her stamp on, all with their roots in the blues.

This band are dynamic, masterful and all about entertainment. A combination of ‘old hands’ who have been making music a long time, absolutely revelling in the playing.

A Sunday Special on the menu about up front performances and entertainment. Sunday 13 August at Meow, doors 3.30pm, show from 4.00 – 6.30pm.Tickets $20 from moshtix and on the door. We’ll have cabaret style seating, please come early to sit with a group.