The Blues Train, Australia’s longest running Contemporary Blues and Roots music venue, which is based on the Bellarine Heritage Railway on Victoria’s stunning Bellarine Peninsula, has added a March 23rd addition to its newly curated Women In Blues Concert Series. The March 23rd event includes both the Anthea Jewels Band featuring home-grown original and traditional Blues singer and songwriter Anthea Jewels and The McNamarr Project, featuring award-winning blues vocalist and songwriter Andrea Marr.
The series has already kicked off – the next event takes place Saturday January 20 – and helps mark The Blues Train’s 30th Anniversary.
Launched with a series of performances at a specially curated free community stage during the Queenscliff Festival in November, the Women In Blues Concert Series features emerging and established female Contemporary Blue and Roots artists integrated into the main event line-ups to be delivered across every Blues Train event from January to May 2024.
The Women in Blues Concert Series will feature many regular Blues Train artists as well as introducing and championing up and coming female artists in the blues and roots music field.
The featured female artists in the Women In Blues series are:
Ocean Grove based family band The Von Robertsons, featuring noted singer-songwriter (and mum!) Andrea Robertson
Melbourne soul sensations The McNamarr Project, featuring multi-award winning blues vocalist and songwriter Andrea Marr
Homegrown original Melbourne blues, soul and rock’n’roller the Anthea Jewels Band
Multi-instrumentalist and guitar virtuoso Anna Scionti
The powerful, raw, and sultry vocalist Nardia
Emerging Melbourne based band Kaliopi & The Blues Messengers, who honor powerful blues women and have honed in on pre-WW delta blues and the works of Memphis Minnie as a foundation
Solo Melbourne artist Iseula, who recently performed at the Melbourne International Jazz Festival
Legendary Melbourne Blues singer-songwriter Kelly Auty
Sassy and bawdy juke joint-styled Blues from emerging Melbourne duo Miss Lou’s Blues
Laurel & The Painkillers, who are full of energy & passion and deeply rooted in Blues with branches of rock, pop & groove
Original 5-piece Blues-rockers from Melbourne’s West, Stonetrain
’50s/60s-styled swampy blues band, Snake Eyed Rollers, featuring vocalist Chloe Wilson
The Blues Train has hosted many great musicians since its inception, including Aussie blues legends Chris Wilson, The Tesky Brothers, C W Stoneking, Dallas Frasca, Ash Grunwald, Mia Dyson, Jimi Hocking, Geoff Achison, Lloyd Spiegel, and Collard Greens & Gravy.
Established in 1994, The Blues Train provides a live music experience to more than 7,000 patrons annually, showcasing the best of Australian Contemporary Blues & Roots artists. The Blues Train operates 30-35 events from October to May each year, with founder Hugo T Armstrong handpicking up to 10 musicians per event, employing and promoting upwards of 300 Australian Contemporary Blues and Roots artists annually. Each night, Blues Train patrons enjoy a solo artist, a duo, a trio, and a full band, as they swap carriages throughout the evening experiencing four completely different interpretations and styles of blues and roots music.
A Blues Train event begins early in the evening at the Victorian Heritage Registered Queenscliff Station, where audience members grab a drink and enjoy dinner before they get rolling. Drinks to take on the journey are available on the platform from the T-bar in the guard’s van, open at each of the four stops. The Blues Train runs along the old Geelong train line, stopping in turn at Suma Park historic homestead and winery, and then at Drysdale before turning around and making its way back to Queenscliff, again via Suma Park.
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