Spotlight Sessions Texas Shuffle

During the Covid 19 Lockdown, as we all remember, there was pretty much a ban on live music in Ireland. Many musicians were at a loose end, and not sure what to do. When restrictions eased up, we decided to start a new band. We were gonna call ourselves Lock Down Blues, but most of the material we were jamming was from Texas (Stevie Ray Vaughan, old ZZ Top etc.) so we decided on the name Texas Shuffle.

If you dropped someone into one of our gigs you would hear high energy blues rock. Think Johnny Winter meets, ZZ Top meets Stevie Ray Vaughan (with some Rory Gallagher and Gary Moore energy thrown in for good measure). We do our own take on the classics, and then mix in our originals too.

Guitar-wise I would say Stevie Ray Vaughan, Billy Gibbons and Buddy Guy. Our guitarist got to jam with Rory Gallagher when Rory did a guitar masterclass in the Guinness Hop Store, so Rory is an influence too. Our drummer is influenced by Chris Layton and early Frank Beard. Our singer listens to Outlaw Country so there's probably some of that in the mix as well.

We've had some great gigs in Dublin, in The Foggy Dew, and in Fibbers, but a gig that stands out is one we did in Koblenz in Germany. A friend of ours brought us over to play in The Florinsmarkt, which in the old town was where the Dance Hall was. The buildings in the area date back to the year 1100 so the place is full of character. The venue we played was an old dive-bar type place; the perfect setting for blues. It was just one of those really memorable gigs...

Can we bring back a young Johnny Winter? I think we'd be a great opener for him. And then we could all just have an onstage jam. His style was so unique and instantly recognisable. Even though his voice wasn't so strong towards the end, his playing was energetic and infectious.

Ah sure look it... we've all had one of those gigs... We played this gig in Belfast, and it wasn't long after we'd started. Our mate was supposed to put the gig posters up, and for whatever reason it didn't happen. So I don't think anyone even knew we were playing, and so we ended up playing to a couple of our friends and the sound engineer. It was a good rehearsal, and let's just leave it at that. We've all been there...

Last year we recorded two songs in Sun Studios in Dublin, one original as well as a version of 16 Tons. We pressed those onto a 7" vinyl which people can buy at our gigs. We've since written plenty more of our own material which we hope to record when we get the funds together (or when Alligator Records snap us up!). Our plan is to continue playing hard rockin' blues around Ireland and Europe. We're doing this for the love of it, so there's no stopping us. Onwards and upwards...!