It was in 2005 on a summer’s night that Waldo and JJ, harp player and bass guitarist, went to a gig in Lincoln, in North Hykeham at the Terry O’Toole Theatre to be exact, to see some blues. They hadn’t played for many months together owing to the death of their former singer and guitarist Jeff Wood. But if they couldn’t play the blues they still wanted to hear it.

And it so happened that on that same night Lord Robert and Christophe, drummer and guitarist, not gigging because of the demise of their former band Dr. Mojo, also decided to go to the same gig.

It was on that night when the seeds of BluesTrain were germinated. In the theatre, as if by chance, the paths of the four crossed. They discovered five things. First they all were bluesmen. Second, put themselves together, they made a band. Third, they were all old enough to have enough money to buy some good gear. Fourthly they weren’t that old that they needed to start drawing their pensions just yet. Fifthly they all wanted to get back on the road again as fast as possible. T

And how come this meeting of music and minds took place there and then? By chance?. Not at all. For the artist that night they had each gone to see was no other than Big Bill Morganfield. Yes, the very son of Muddy Waters himself. Big Bill Morganfield is a famous bluesman in his own right but to see him on stage is to see and hear his father. It was in short no coincidence that it was that night that BluesTrain started, slowly but surely, on its voyage out of its engine shed. The spirit of Muddy Waters was at work. His Mojo reaches far and it sure reached Lincoln on that night.

It is also no coincidence that BluesTrain feature a lot of Muddy Waters in their set. Not only is his music their sort of music (every blues lover’s music, surely?). It’s a sort of thanks as well. For putting BluesTrain on its tracks, producing some steam and getting out on that railroad.