| | A Belfast debut for this Australian bluesman who’s been creating a stir….a unique talent that is most welcome in a world full of fakes and pretenders. 34 year old Australian bluesman, C.W. Stoneking, has a distinctive sound, his music sounds as though it could have been recorded 80 years ago.
He describes his style as “Hokum Blues”, a musical brew influenced by prewar blues, ragtime, vaudevillian novelty tunes, dark old hillbilly songs, jazz and calypso.
He wears a ragged black suit and a preachin’ hat, writes songs about singing dodo birds, mutters and holds conversations with himself onstage and has a distinctively growling singing voice. C.W. Stoneking relies on this mixture of musicianship and performance to invoke the spirit of authentic 1920’s Deep South blues.
Stoneking was born in Katherine to Californian hippie parents who met at a music festival. His parents separated and he was raised by his father, a teacher in the Aboriginal community of Papunya.
His interest in the blues was sparked while a student at Sydney’s Balmain High School. He stumbled across some of his father’s blues tapes, including a compilation tape which he played constantly, until his car was towed away with the tape still in it!
His influences and live covers include the blues legends Blind Willie McTell, Big Bill Broonzy, Leroy Carr and Memphis Minnie. The latest album, ‘King Hokum’, by C.W. Stoneking and his Primitive Horn Orchestra, has been well reviewed by the Sydney Morning Herald, Rolling Stone and ABC amongst others. It contains eleven original compositions. | |
