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The Crawley Blues Club has quite a reputation for booking class acts and this gig did not disappoint.
Brett Marvin and the Thunderbolts originally hail from Crawley. Graham Hine and Keef Trouble used to be in Pete Gibson’s art classes at school, so there was local support as well as some who had travelled 200 miles just to see them!.
Well, the Bretts don’t get out as much as much anymore! Now in their 38th year, this band is as experienced and entertaining as they get and an appreciative and discerning audience soaked up some vintage Brett Marvin with their infectious rhythms and distinctive brand of Delta influenced Rhythm and Blues.
The band opened with “Dust My Broom” which always bodes well, and it was good to see that the rhythm section of John Randall on drums, Dougie Strathie on bass, and Taffy Davies’s keyboards were as tight as ever, enabling Graham Hine’s searing slide guitar to lead them along.
The great thing about the Bretts is that there is always something to look at the percussion of Keef Trouble on zobstick and electric ironing board along with Pete Gibson’s oil drums and his trombone playing demand your attention.
Jim Pitts provided amusing and anecdotal links between numbers and his vocals, harp, and sax playing have not diminished over the years.
Pete Gibson sang a poignant version of “Thoughts on You” claiming that he had not sung it for 30 years. Brett Marvin always finish with “Bye Bye Baby” but the Crawley crowd wouldn’t let them go demanding more.
A new departure was Graham Hine playing a short solo acoustic set before the second half kicked off. Graham is one the UK’s finest bottleneck guitarists with a unique sound that pays tribute to Robert Johnson, but emphasises his own style and interpretation of early Delta blues. His own compositions of “Come On Easy Jet” and the instrumental “Walk on Water” showed what a fine musician he is with vocals to match. You could have heard a pin drop in the audience
It may be 35 years since “Seaside Shuffle” topped the charts (recorded under the pseudonym of Terry Dactyl and the Dinosaurs) and they supported Eric Clapton’s British tour, but Brett Marvin and the Thunderbolts are as joyous and uplifting as ever.
Someone said ‘I was really pissed off when I came out tonight. They’ve really cheered me up’, while another wag thought they should be available on the National Health Service. Catch them if you can.
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