John Németh, Leburn Maddox.

Lev 2 Esquires Bedford. Friday 18th July 2014.




Tonight the main stage is graced by the presence of John Németh, a thirty eight year old bluesman. Having previously worked out of California, he is now firmly based in Memphis. He used to be a truck driver but is now a full on 'fat back' blues champ. It is pure Tennessee and heavily influenced by the legendary Stax label. Born in Boise, Idaho, the rich and thick accent is very noticeable. He has a very easy going patter throughout and he greets the very measly turnout (a real shame) with a cheery "How y'all doing? I gonna play my music and I hope you're gonna like it". When he says his music, he generally means songs from the new album, his seventh, which is called "Memphis grease" (on the Blue Corn Music label). Of course it is available tonight. John has a different way of selling it. Later in the set he composes a song and people are encouraged to come to the stage and obtain one while he is singing. He tells us he has no merchman. I found this rather tacky and lacking in class so I didn't buy a copy. This contrasted with the set which was silky smooth throughout.

He begins with "Bad luck is my name" and with this impressive start it is easy to see why he was nominated as many as five times at the American Blues Awards recently. His lyrics are honest and he has a grand presence. Stocky of build, he is also wearing his trademark trilby. His warm between song banter is so engaging and, as with any performer from across the pond, an education of different cultures. "If it ain't broke" is a song about relationships which John expands upon during his intro. Although sadly he is without his Bo-Keys band tonight, the session musicians who assist him are smooth operators. Mr Németh calls them all "The 4 J's" as the quartet all have Christian names beginning with that letter. The blues harp skills that John demonstrates so often really come to the fore, especially on the fantastic funky blues of "Sooner or later". With his past career to reminisce about, freight truck tales appear in "Elbows on the wheel". With a staple diet of his own compositions, he does include a reworking of Roy Orbison's "Crying". The late great would be mightily proud of Mr Németh's version, I'm sure.

Considering it isn't a great turnout, John Németh is very jovial and upbeat throughout. This is quite a coup for the fledgling promoter because this is a very short UK tour for the 2014 soul blues male artist award winner. He is due to play London's Ronnie Scott's on Sunday and the Half Moon, Putney on Tuesday and that concludes his tour. John closes his set with the rockier "My baby's gone". I did also expect our American friend to also be quickly gone, but he and his band reappear for a short encore for one final flourish of blues.
Stepping in for the originally advertised Paddy Milner is the eloquently named Leburn Maddox. This tall American fella fronts, along with Luke and Adam, a mix of musical styles. Leburn could be the musical son of Jimi Hendrix and George Clinton, although he jokes that he is Lenny Kravitz. This man certainly throws in much much more. His greeting is a taster of what is to come as he announces "Hello ladies and gentlemen, boys, girls and transvestites"! He then adds "Say yeah, hell yeah, f**k yeah! Are you ready for some broken down guitar work?". Leburn is seriously good fun, in fact one of the most interesting and entertaining off the cuff performers that I have seen here in a while. As he finished playing a cover, Mr Maddox described his set as being more than just "mutilating other people's songs". He does write his own material too. Take "Goldmine" for example, which he jokes that he wrote "twenty minutes ago, downstairs in the ladies room"! This reggae lilted song incorporates "When you wish upon a star" as well as the 'alien bit' from the Close Encounters film. This is followed by "Dreadadelic" where Leburn bizarrely sings "once I took some mushrooms and look what they did to my hair". This marvellous and manic gentleman then declares that he is a recent divorcee. He was really sad when his wife left him, especially when she also took off with his hundred thousand pounds! "Tears and the fall" is his lament. Probably his storytelling skills reach their ultimate zenith on "Rolling over for love". It is bluesy and contains "plenty of love and violence". The lyrics are extremely fruity as he describes "being naked with handcuffs on, face down on the bed, she was wearing a strap on, the big ol' thing was hanging in the breeze"!! He then cries out "Ouch, ouch, ouch, get off me"! Leburn Maddox is so talented and, above all, original. Mere words can't really describe fully just how good this man was this evening.

Review by Martin Stapleton. www.bedfordalternativemusic.co.uk