Ruzz Up The Gate!

I was intending to start this along the lines of “you don’t need me to provide another reason why I love The Southgate,” but this is Devizes. Being I overheard a conversation between a person by the ticket machine in the carpark, and their friend at their car three yards away, which went: “gotta put yer registration in, int ya,” to the reply “you can get it off the number plate,” I reconsidered, maybe some do need a reminder!

Thing was, festival after festival, I was supposed to have a weekend off, grandkids visiting, but the temptation of Ruzz Guitar standing in for Jon Amor for his monthly residency was too great to resist, coupled with the fact I needed a break from drawing Paw Patrol characters, litter-picking Harbio off the sofa and being a human climbing wall.

In no time at all I was sighing relief at our dependable Gate, replacing Peppa for a pint of Rosie’s Pig; my guilty pleasure. Oh yes, you wanted yet another reason why I love the Southgate, at least a reminder; because even if you’ve stayed in for the weekend, it’s never too late to have a change of heart, Sunday afternoon sessions from 5pm are equally as satisfying as those of the Saturday night.

You knew this, I’m sure. Jon, with the fantastic drum and bass duo, Tom Gilkes and Jerry Soffe have turned this faithful and friendly tavern into a divine monthly juke-joint for many moons now, with guests the calibre you’d gladly fork out a ticket for. They’re also the kind of gig which appeals to the guests, nearly always returning within their own right to the Southgate.

So with Saturday a guaranteed hoedown with Marlborough’s blues giants, Barrelhouse, for a Sunday with Jon unable to attend, the cavalry was called in. There’s some great guitarists in the south-west, there’s the sublime few, and then there’s Ruzz, so good they named the guitar after him. In America they’re calling our regular Johnny B Goode the “Pistol from Bristol,” and the boot fits.

They got our mojo working for an encore, preceded by the perfect execution of Ruzz’s slide guitar interpretation of Armstrong’s Wonderful World, and my personal favourite original, Sweet as Honey. It was a superb finale to a spellbinding set, the likes you can always rely on with Ruzz, fronting his trio, Blues Revue or, evidently, Tom & Jerry too.

The guitar is what Ruzz is a virtuoso of, Gretsch knows this and endorsed him. If he was a chocolatier he’d be endorsed by Teuscher, if he was a stamp collector it would be a stamp collection worth seeing! What a fantastic afternoon at the Southgate, again!

Ruzz is back in Devizes Friday October 18th with his Trio, in support of legends Wishbone Ash at the Corn Exchange, it’s the first gig with profits going to the Mayoral Appeal; a welcome advantage to having a Mayor who runs a blues club!! Tickets here.

What else is occurring?!

Rooks; New Single From M3G

Chippenham folk singer-songwriter, M3G (because she likes a backward “E”) has a new single out tomorrow, Friday 19th December. Put your jingly bell cheesy tunes…

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