Getting your groove on

This weekend I had the great privilege of working with a group of amazing musicians and songwriters at Bluescampuk 2018.

Working in a newly formed band “Dehydrated” made up of 5 guitarists, bass player and me and supported, directed and challenged by the amazing drummer, Sam Kelly.

Over the weekend we learned a couple of covers (with our own twist of course!) and had to create an original piece from initial lyrics from a “cut out” songwriting session from our fellow Bluescampers.

Sam was very patient with us teaching us all how to jam in an effective way so that all parts were discernible from each other whilst sounding cohesive and emotive overall.

Of course it helps that he was also our drummer keeping us all to time and challenging us to perfect the piece.

I’m a fan of Sam’s approach anyway having met him before at Bluescamp but also being a fan of Sam Kelly’s Station House and their fabulous recent album “No Barricades“. (Check it out if you haven’t already!)

It was a totally brilliant weekend and experience, being more of a vocalist/topliner this time than a lyricist but in the evening I got to do a couple of Ann Kenney Songs originals : Gold and Change It Up for the Open Mic session with Tommy Kenney on piano.

For our final performance we were joined by the awesome Bluescampuk tutors Tom Knight on bass and Chris Penfold on keys. We closed the weekend with our cover of Paul Simon’s “Late in the Evening” with the ever epic Raging Horns brass section!

Special thanks also to David Hester, Elaine Purse, Tom Fuller, Peter Nash and Pete Turner of “Dehydrated!”

Thanks to everyone at BluescampUK 2018 who made this year such fun and getting me back into rhythm and blues and for helping me get my groove on!

Ann