John Kirkbride

) is a scottish singer, guitarist, songwriter and entertainer.

Characteristic for Kirkbrides live-performance is the audience participation, whilst telling anectodes with funny and critical asides and playing authentic blues music.In his concerts he plays blues and jazz standards from the 1920´s, 30´s and 40´s, as well as compositions of his own.

Life and career

At the age of 8, Kirbride emigrated together with his family from Queensland to Australia.On getting his first guitar, he was fascinated by it and began to learn playing it by himself.He tuned his guitar on only one chord, without realising that this method was the tuning that the first generation of blues singers in the Mississippi Delta were using as the so called open tuning for their slide or bottleneck- playing. Only years later would Kirkbride learn about the conventional tuning.

In the beginning of his 20´s he came back to Britain, where he began to improve his guitar technique. During this time the popular group the Shadows (he played a session with them years later) exerted a big influence on him.After hearing some records by the country guitarist Chet Atkins, he got in touch with his playing, the so called fingerpicking, which would shape him from then on.

Influenced by songwriters like Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Randy Newman, Neil Young and Leonard Cohen, Kirkbride began to compose his own music material.In so doing he learned how to create a dialogue between text and music. This explains his obvious preference for texts, containing a critical and political slant, which has continued till this day.

After his military service at the british Air Force (RAF), where he served as a fighter pilot (and was shot above Jemen, according to his statement), he settled down in NY in the late 60-ies, with the intention to live from his music.However this plan turned out to be harder than he thought financially, but his stay in the US turned out to be a musical break through, because he could improve his technique and complete musical knowledge.

During this time he also performed with Pete Seeger, the legendary Blues musician Lightnin' Hopkins, B.B. King, Eric Clapton, John Mayall, Louisiana Red, Alexis Korner, Chuck Leavell, Albie Donnelly, and many more.After an intermezzo in the Netherland in 1976, where he began to enrich blues songs (among them many from Robert Johnson, who Kirkbride admires more than any other musician) with melody and harmonics, he moved to Germany, where he still lives today.There he worked many years together with the german author Hans-Christian Kirsch, whose lectures he accompanied with classical or celtic music, blues or jazz, according to the programme.

Today Kirbride performs a.o. with the Bavarian blues harp player Ferdl Eichner (with whom he made numerous recordes).

Discographie

= LPs =
* Tracks
* Magnetic Mugshots of Memorable Moments
* Sourdough, Corn and Hot Biscuits
* Reds and Blues

CDs

* Blue Images
* Street Kids
* Brotherhood in Blues (with Ferdl Eichner)
* Adam und Eva (with Hans-Christian Kirsch)
* Der Keltische Zauberspiegel (with Hans-Christian Kirsch)
* Riches to Rags (with Ferdl Eichner)
* Changing of the Ways
* Return Cargo (with Albie Donnelly)
* Sketches

References

* http://www.madhouse-augsburg.de/veranstaltungen/archiv/kirkbridge.php
* http://www.folkclub.de/bands/kirkbride/index.html

External links

* [http://john-kirkbride.com/sites/blues_home_english.htm Official website]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yTP2-fwc10&feature=related Kirkbride on youtube.com]