Michael Messer & Second Mind Band at Jagz Ascot

Michael Messer & Second Mind Band

Friday, 23rd May
Show will start at 8.45
Ticket cost: £10.00
Tickets £10 available from Jagz on 01344 878100. 2 course meal and entrance for £28 or £32 for 3 courses.

"Michael Messer is a virtuoso slide guitarist who has one of the best bands performing some of the greatest blues tunes produced this century. His playing encompasses the entire history of the blues but is totally individual and contemporary. His use of turntables in the band adds a new element to the music and Messer’s haunting vocals ooze authenticity and integrity. The American magazine, ‘Spirit’ listed Michael as one of the greatest slide guitarists ever alongside Duane Allman and Ry Cooder". Dave Tracey

Michael Messer was born in Middlesex in 1956. Throughout his childhood and teens he played rock music with his two brothers and in various local bands. In his early twenties, Messer spent time in Nashville where he had the chance to meet and hear some of the ‘greats’ of country music performing in their home environment. These included Roy Acuff, Hank Snow and Johnny Cash. Back home in England in the late seventies, Messer was mastering the art of Mississippi delta blues slide guitar, buying his first National steel guitar in 1979. He began playing blues gigs, both as a solo artist and in various local bands in the early eighties.

The Michael Messer Band was formed in 1985 and they cut their first album, Diving Duck, in 1987 which received some fantastic reviews. “Beautifully played. Diving Duck is the kind of album Ry Cooder should be making”. Q magazine

In 1989 Messer produced and played on an album with the legendary Venice Beach busker,Ted Hawkins, called I Love You Too, which was later re-released as Nowhere to Run.In that same year he became friends with the late S.E. Rogie and produced some tracks for his New Sounds of S.E .Rogie album.

Messer’s second album Slidedance was released in 1990, and one year later, he was voted Acoustic Blues Artist of the Year at the B.B.C Awards. “To say that Messer is a slide guitarist is like describing Mother Theresa as a nun! Slidedance is possibly the finest blues / world music album of the year. One of the best slide guitarists Britain has ever produced”. Time Out

About the Author

Jagz are a Live Jazz, Soul and Blues venue in the South East of Britain