Australian Blues guitarist and singer, Fiona Boyes, has been variously described by reviewers as a ‘musical anomaly’, ‘Bonnie Raitt’s evil twin’, or simply as ‘scaring the hell out of me’. How did this fair-haired gal, born and raised in Melbourne, Australia, of Scottish and English heritage, become an internationally recognized and awarded recording and touring artist? How did she come to be the first woman and non-American to win the International Blues Challenge in Memphis? Why did some of the great Mississippi Delta and Chicago blues giants, bsuch as the late Pinetop Perkins and Hubert Sumlin, choose to describe her as one of the best women guitar players since Memphis Minnie, record on her albums, and share stages with her at international Blues Festivals? How does it come about that the Mayor of Clarksdale, Mississippi, birthplace of the Blues, should present Fiona with the ‘Key To The City’, recognizing her as an Aussie ambassador of the Blues?
The answer lays partly in Fiona’s striking and original talent; she writes, sings and plays just about anything in the Blues realm with
passion and authenticity. It is also her immersion in the wide musical and historical traditions that make up the Blues and her deep love of the art-form itself.
Equally at home on acoustic or electric guitars, her repertoire is like a Blues travelogue. Listen to her play and you’ll hear pre-war Delta slide, wailing laments, single chord Mississippi Hills grooves, intricate and beautiful Piedmont finger picking, rollicking New
Orleans barrelhouse, greasy Memphis soul, driving classic Chicago sounds, the country styles of Texas swing, and the uptown sounds of the West Coast.