Annie Duggan and Rob Hines

The pairing of powerhouse vocalist Annie Duggan with exceptional guitarist Rob Hines is a match made in … well, possibly Clarksdale Mississippi (as mentioned in their pre-show publicity) or Nashville Tennessee, or the backwoods of Alabama. Take your pick, but the ‘roots’ of their music undoubtedly originate from the diverse strands of blues, country, folk and jazz that combine in the melting pot of ‘Americana’.

To classify their music as one or other of these genres would be to do them a disservice, as their mastery of each and all is palpably plain to witness in their performance.

Annie opened with an acappella version of ‘You Are My Sunshine’, owing more to the Ray Charles version than the Andy Williams, her voice both powerful and expressive, encompassing the grit and growl of the blues, the more mellow tones of country music, and the subtlety of the jazz stylists. She employs all of these devices within her repertoire, including standard classics from those genres, and original compositions from the pen of erstwhile collaborator Colin Granger.

The empathy between Annie and guitarist Rob Hines is all encompassing, and his impressive technique allows him to employ both rhythmic subtlety and impressive interjectory extemporisations in his accompaniments. His solo excursions were truly amazing, the powerful propulsive drive of the country bluesman in tandem with the Scotty Moore ‘Sun Sound’ Elvis era rockabilly ‘licks’, and an occasional hint of Spanish flamenco, a truly amazing combination of influences finding a home in his one man guitar ‘orchestra’!

All of those elements combined in their version of Robert Johnson’s ‘Crossroads’, a result of our pre show conversation about the pre-eminent country blues singer.

David McPhie