Focus Music Notes. "Out of the Blues". Popular music through the decades

Described by The Guardian as ‘a master of the contemporary blues’, Skip ‘Little Axe’ McDonald comes to the Gallery Sessions at Barnstaple’s Queen’s Theatre on Thursday 12 th May for an exclusive solo performance. Providing guitars, bass, keyboards, and vocals, Little Axe is the return to the blues that Skip grew up with and learned from his father. Born Bernard Alexander in 1949, Dayton, Ohio, Skip McDonald learned to play the blues on his father's guitar from the age of 8, although by the time he was 12 years old he had opted to perform doo-wop. But from picking up a guitar as a child, and returning to his roots with Little Axe, there has been a long twisting road. McDonald, along with bass player Doug Wimbish and drummer Keith LeBlanc formed the house band for the pioneering rap label Sugar Hill, providing the music for some of the most seminal records of the era by  Grandmaster Flash , Afrika Bambaata and others. From there he worked closely with Adrian Sher

Since their debut in 1969 Steeleye Span have become one of the most influential names in British roots music, credited with changing the face of folk music forever, taking it from small clubs into the world of gold discs and international tours. Catch them in Barnstaple as they return to the Queen’s Theatre for what’s set to be another cracking performance on Thursday 17th March. Members have come and gone over the years, with past and present line-ups virtually a who’s who of the British folk scene, but Steeleye has always remained an institution, at the forefront of the genre they helped define. With Maddy Prior - the voice of Steeleye for 34 years - back at the helm, the line-up features band stalwart and fiddler extraordinaire Peter Knight, Rick Kemp on bass, Peter Zorn on guitar and Liam Genockey on the drum stool. Steeleye Span’s 35th anniversary year in 2004 saw the line-up hailed as one of the band’s strongest with two sell out UK tours and a fantastic gig at the London Pallad