T-Bone Kelly and Band's energetic show for Navan

"BLUES orientated rock, plenty of swing, and a lotta fun" is what's promised in The Palace on Thursday night of next week when the T-Bone Kelly Band make their debut appearance in Navan.

American T-Bone Kelly and his blues and rock band, which includes Navan drummer John Nugent, has been gigging in Dublin city for the past two to three years and this is their first appearance in the county town. With the Chicago man on lead guitar, harmonica and vocals, the rest of the band is made up of Phil Baker, also on lead guitar, Martin O'Keeffe (bass) and John Nugent on drums. John, from Athlumney, is from a family well known in Navan music circles and one of his earliest bands as a rookie was with Gordon Leonard, and Jenny and Irene Darcy.

Live reviews have described the band as classy, emotionally driven and powerful, something which John Nugent says attracted him to join them. The songs are a good mix of material and classic covers from the early Rolling Stones, Muddy Waters, ZZ Top, and Rory Gallagher, as well as Screaming Jay Hawkins.

A review of a recent Dublin gig, at Bleu Note, described how the band launched into their high energy set with some modern Texas blues in ZZ Top's 'Tush', with T-Bone and Phil trading sizzling guitar runs between them.

It continues: "The wonderful blend of raunchy humour and sexual innuendo had the audience captured immediately followed by another key influence in the tough, melodic T-Bone Kelly sound 'Honky Tonk Woman' by The Rolling Stones, showcasing T-Bone on blues harp.

The T-Bone Kelly Band's frisky unpretentious approach to the arrangements has a vibrant likable energy and bounce and works well especially on uncluttered covers like 'No Expectations' from 'Beggars Banquet', the Brian Jones and Bill Wyman era Rolling Stones 1968 LP.

Phil Baker found the magic in the moment with his tribute to Rory Gallagher, doing an impeccable version of the Irish Tour '74 Muddy Water's tune 'I Wonder Who' playing bottleneck with a full sized beer bottle.

T-Bone cruised up to the end of the first half nailing the groove with Green Onion style riffing and classic Chicago and Texas blues matching his guitar skill with some rack held blues harp and raw rollicking boogie somewhere in a vibe reminiscent of The Allman Brothers, Smoking Joe Kubeck and Bnois King or Buddy Guy.

After a short break, there were ample portions of more classic covers like 'Unchain My Heart', 'Are You Ready', 'Bring It On home To Me' and originals like 'Indigenous Tuna' showing a band with authority never letting the pace or fretwork slip below the funky hot n taste on the radar screen."

The reviewer said that T-Bone Kelly - who is by day a professor of psychology - has put together a band of crack musicians with a roadhouse heart and plenty of musical muscle, capturing the essence of a song like ZZ Top's 'Jesus Left Chicago' demonstrating the concise punchy delivery and ZZ's wacky sense of humour.

T-Bone and the band have just recently returned from southern France, where they took part in the Marciac Jazz and Blues Festival, with the line -up including Jarvis Cocker, and they've been invited back there next year.

Jazz In Marciac (JIM) has become one of the biggest and most popular music festivals in Europe, attracting an ever-growing international audience. Every year thousands of visitors assemble to celebrate JIM. With its inauguration in 1978 the festival, which was initially based on traditional jazz, brought New Orleans style jazz bands together. 

T-Bone and the band are on from 9pm 'til late at The Palace, Ludlow Street, Navan, on Thursday next, 25th October, with no cover charge.