Blues Nights
Blues Nights are run by Bob Long. Bob’s love of the blues started in the 1960s, listening to The Rolling Stones who were then playing numbers from Muddy Waters, Howling Wolf and Jimmy Reed. He bought the records of these old bluesmen and began a musical odyssey back in time through the 50s, 40s and 30s to the early blues and jug band recordings of the 20s.
He started playing the blues in his late teens. During the 70s and early 80s, Bob appeared at folk clubs and pubs, sometimes solo, more often with a harmonica player – notably his schoolfriend, Keith Miller. His musical pursuits were then pushed aside due to the pressures of running his own business from the mid-80s until 1999 when he returned to playing the blues and recorded an album Cow Pie – The First Thirty Years with Keith Miller and Richard Bolton.
Bob sold his business in February 2005 and since then has been able to spend more time enjoying the blues; both listening and playing. He then became a frequent visitor to the Mississippi Delta and the surrounding area, enjoying the blues heritage, the southern hospitality and the present day music scene. Bob has played at The Ground Zero Blues Club, Hopson’s, The Delta Amusement Cafe and Red’s in Clarksdale, at Po Monkey’s in Merigold, at The Walnut Street Blues Bar in Greenville and on the KFFA Radio Station in Helena, Arkansas on Sonny Payne’s legendary King Biscuit Time show. He was also one of many blues musicians playing open-air during the 2005 Clarksdale Juke Joint Festival and again in 2006 and every year until 2010.
In October 2006, Bob appeared in The Tommy Johnson Blues Festival in Crystal Springs, Mississippi and played at The Mardi Gras and 930 Blues clubs in Jackson. In 2007 and again in 2010 he returned to Mississippi for The Second and Fifth Tommy Johnson Festival. His trips to Mississippi and performances there continued until 2019
Bob has met many blues musicians over the years and he is always on the lookout for artists from the USA who come to Europe on tour and might include Milford Blues Night in their schedule, in addition to home grown British talent.