Four decades. Thousands of miles. B.B. King. Robert Cray. Buddy Guy. Junior Wells. Memphis. Europe. America. Sweat-soaked clubs, festival stages and enough hard-driving rhythm & blues to shake the foundations of just about every room they've walked into.
And now something rather special is happening.
BLUES 'N' TROUBLE ARE ROLLING AGAIN.
Not some sanitised tribute to what once was. Not a collection of hired hands recreating an old set of songs.
This is the real bloodline of one of Scotland's great blues bands — musicians who were there when Blues 'N' Trouble went from a bunch of blues-obsessed Scots with something to prove to an internationally travelled outfit sharing stages with some of the greatest names the blues has ever produced.
And, we can now reveal, Blues 'N' Trouble will be returning to Barnoldswick Music & Arts Centre in the not-too-distant future.
But first, wind the clock back...
Blues 'N' Trouble emerged from Scotland in the early 1980s, founded by Tim Elliott and guitarist John "Jivin' Johnny" Bruce, with a sound that wasn't interested in treating the blues as a museum piece.
This stuff MOVED. Chicago blues collided with British R&B, rock 'n' roll and heads-down boogie. Harmonica screamed. Guitars barked. The rhythm section swung like its life depended upon it.
Then came the break that changed everything.
B.B. KING.
B'N'T landed dates opening for the King of the Blues, part of a period that propelled them out of their home territory and onto the wider British and European blues circuit. Suddenly this young Scottish band was mixing it in serious company. And the company became increasingly extraordinary.
Over the years Blues 'N' Trouble shared stages and bills with artists including B.B. King, Robert Cray, Buddy Guy, Junior Wells, Charlie Musselwhite and Pinetop Perkins.
They crossed borders, crossed oceans and built the sort of reputation that can only really be earned one way:
ON STAGE. Night after night. Town after town. Country after country. Plug in. Count it off. Go.
And standing right there at the beginning was John Bruce.
Calling John merely the guitarist in Blues 'N' Trouble doesn't really tell the story.
John Bruce is one of the architects of the band.
He co-founded Blues 'N' Trouble with Tim Elliott in the early '80s and his guitar became part of the musical DNA of the group: economical when it needed to be, fiery when the doors opened, but always rooted in the feel and language of the blues.
Bruce wasn't simply there to take the solos, either.
Look through the B'N'T catalogue and his fingerprints are everywhere.
His writing credits include songs such as "Free to Ride," "Tearstains on My Pillow," "Spank the Plank," "Deep Blue Feeling" and "Texas," alongside numerous collaborations with Tim Elliott and other members of the band.
In other words, when John Bruce walks onto a stage and starts playing these songs, you're not listening to somebody interpreting the Blues 'N' Trouble songbook.
You're listening to one of the men who wrote it.
His recording history with the band stretches right back through those formative records, including First Trouble and No Minor Keys, while the B'N'T story even intersects with rock 'n' roll royalty through sessions featuring Ian Stewart — the legendary pianist and founding Rolling Stone often affectionately regarded as the "sixth Stone."
Then there's perhaps our favourite John Bruce story of all.
Travel all the way from Scotland to Memphis, Tennessee, walk into the legendary Rum Boogie Café, and hanging among its collection of blues memorabilia you'll find... a John Bruce guitar. Think about that for a second.
A Scottish guitarist who started out playing blues because he loved the music ends up with one of his instruments hanging in MEMPHIS. You don't get much more blues than that.
More than forty years after helping light the fuse beneath Blues 'N' Trouble, Jivin' Johnny Bruce is back where he belongs — guitar in hand, amp switched on and standing alongside musicians with whom he shares decades of history.
Alongside John is fellow classic-era guitarist "Telecaster" Dave, bringing back that wonderful two-guitar chemistry at the centre of the band's sound, while behind the kit is Sean Scott, another musician from that crucial '80s period.
These aren't musicians who have learned the story. They lived it. John Bruce. Telecaster Dave. Sean Scott.
Three musicians from the classic B'N'T era, together again and playing songs carrying forty-plus years of history.
On bass is Andrew Stirling, also known for his work with The Allmans Project and Safehouse, locking everything together with exactly the sort of muscular bottom end this music demands.
And out front? That's another great Blues 'N' Trouble story.
With original frontman Tim Elliott stepping back from regular touring, Blues 'N' Trouble didn't go searching for somebody to impersonate him. They didn't need to.
Gary Martin was already part of the family. Gary's relationship with Blues 'N' Trouble stretches back more than four decades.
He started out travelling with the band as roadie and driver, becoming a friend, confidant and eventually a guest musician. Year after year, mile after mile, Gary was there. And gradually the man helping get the show on the road became part of the show itself.
A formidable harmonica player and powerful vocalist, Gary subsequently appeared with B'N'T on numerous occasions, both alongside Tim and fronting the band himself.
So when Tim stepped away from regular touring, the succession couldn't have been more natural.
Gary Martin stepped up to the microphone. And crucially, that unmistakable Blues 'N' Trouble ingredient remains right where it should be:
THE HARP. Not polite harmonica. Not a little decoration around the edges. We're talking wailing, honking, bending, hard-blown electric blues harp — the kind that sounds as though somebody has plugged a Chicago street corner directly into the PA. Gary doesn't have to manufacture a connection with the history of Blues 'N' Trouble.
He was there.
So, for the avoidance of any doubt, the band currently tearing into that classic B'N'T repertoire is:
Gary Martin — Vocals & Harmonica
John "Jivin' Johnny" Bruce — Lead Guitar
"Telecaster" Dave — Guitar & Vocals
Andrew Stirling — Bass
Sean Scott — Drums
That's a serious amount of history standing on one small stage. And a small stage is exactly where we come in...
We are absolutely delighted to reveal that BLUES 'N' TROUBLE WILL BE RETURNING TO BARNOLDSWICK MUSIC & ARTS CENTRE IN THE NOT-TOO-DISTANT FUTURE.
And frankly, this feels like exactly the kind of band our little cellar was built for.
Guitars within touching distance. Blues harp screaming across the room. No barriers. No enormous stage. No watching the band through a giant video screen from 100 yards away.
Just musicians, audience and forty years of electric rhythm & blues detonating in one tiny room.
Those of you who caught Tim Elliott and John Bruce together at Barnoldswick for the band's 40th Anniversary show in 2024 will already know what happens when the Blues 'N' Trouble songbook meets our little cellar.
This time another chapter is coming. The classic songs. The classic players.
A new frontman who has actually spent more than four decades travelling the same road.
And one of Scotland's great unsung blues guitarists, Jivin' Johnny Bruce, standing just a few feet away and playing songs he helped create all those years ago.
This isn't nostalgia. It's unfinished business. BLUES 'N' TROUBLE.
SCOTLAND'S BLUES ROAD WARRIORS.
FORTY-PLUS YEARS OF SWEAT, SWING, HARP, GUITARS AND GLORIOUSLY UNRULY ROCKIN' BLUES.
And very soon...
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