Voted top European blues artist, and Best Young Blues Guitarist in the British Blues Awards, Laurence Jones has a mission to bring his favourite music to a younger audience.
Terry Caster caught up with the Midlands-based bluesman for a chat as he heads towards the end of a three-month tour encompassing Sweden, Germany, France and Holland, as well as the UK. Following a high-flying Planet Rockstock gig in South Wales, he was looking forward to returning to Leeds, where he is playing on election night.
How’s the tour been going Laurence, how do you find the difference between the continent and the UK gigs?
“It’s been good. It’s been a long tour, the longest I have done. We’re more popular and more mainstream out there – we’re on the radio a lot more on equivalent stations to Radio 2 being played. So we get big crowds out there, more than the UK. But that doesn’t mean it is better! Coming back to play where I started there are really enthusiastic audiences – in the ten years I have been a professional musician I have seen a change and there’s more younger people getting into this kind of music.
“That’s great, because one of my aims when I started out was to get more people – more young people in particular – into the blues.”
Read interview in entirety here
