This was the blues band waiting to happen. John Hillary and Andrew Bazeley were a couple of well-established and battle-weary blues die-hards, looking for something a bit different. They had been individually thinking to themselves "why doesn't somebody pack away all those amps, basses, flashy lead-breaks and on-stage egos, and form a simple acoustic blues band?" Then, at a chance meeting, they raised the question again out loud, with the inevitable answer "well, how about us doing it?"

And so it happened: with the addition of Graham Ball - one of the finest mandolin players around, BARRELHOUSE BLUES was born, and, over the following year, became one of the most refreshing live new sounds on the Bath, Bristol and Wiltshire music scene. One of their first appearances was an ad-lib affair at the Village Pump Festival in 2000. They went back there again in 2001, and were hailed by critics as "one of the undoubted highlights of the weekend". They now appear at a huge number of music pubs in the Bath and Bristol area, and have even secured regular billing at the famous Old Duke in Bristol.

The band members' pedigree can't be faulted: as well as solo and duo incarnations, they've been seen with Blues deVille, John Hillary Blues Band, Biss Delta Allstars, and the blues/Cajun/Irish combo Special O'Cajun.

They play a weird and wonderful junkshop-full of instruments: the usual guitars, dobro, banjo, harmonica and mandolin, plus ukelele, jugs, kazoos, drums, kettles and "assorted noises". The result of all this is a foot-tapping, soul-lifting blend of Delta blues, riotous jug-band and skiffle stompers, tear-jerking soulful slow-blues, and a handful of cool jazzy numbers. There's even some Bob Dylan!