Concert Friday to remember Welshpool blues star
Born in Welshpool, on September 23, 1946, Duster emerged in the late 1960s from the art school music scene of Kingston-upon-Thames and Guildford.
He was a one-man blues band, in the style of bluesmen such as Joe Hill Louis, with virtuosity and coordination on drums, guitar and harmonica.
His live sets combined his own compositions with Jimmy Reed-style blues standards often aided by friends Peter Green and Top Topham.
He was a session musician in the early 1960s playing harmonica. Between 1968 and 1970 he played on John Peel’s Top Gear, toured and eventually joined John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers as band member/solo act on a US tour in 1970.
In the 1970s, he drifted off into more mainstream material.
Based in London, his first album Smiling Like I'm Happy saw him playing as a one-man band, playing a bass drum with his foot and blowing a harmonica on a rack while strumming a 1952 Les Paul Goldtop guitar given to him in 1968 by Peter Green.
Backed by his girlfriend Stella Sutton and the original Fleetwood Mac on three tracks, the album was well received.
He remained popular on the local blues club scene until his death on March 26, 1976, when after performing with Memphis Slim in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, Duster was driving home in a Ford Transit van in Warwickshire when he apparently fell asleep at the wheel and his van collided with a truck.
For the Welshpool concert, the band will perform a Duster Bennett/Peter Green composition that they have learnt especially for the show. The concert will begin at 8pm with doors open from 7.15pm. A licensed bar will be open throughout.
Early bird tickets are £17.50 or pay £20 on door. Tickets are available from Riffels, Welshpool Jewellers or online at www.jumblebee.co.uk/fleetwoodshackwelshpool2024
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