HAWKESBURY INDEPENDENT MAY 2015 | Page 39

ow sh time boutique blues Sydney Blues and Roots Live at the Luke Escombe Fitz on May 15-1617 features many outstanding you talents. The owners of the Fitzroy Hotel have worked hard with the festival team and sponsors to bring you another completely free event over three night and two days in May. This small, boutique festival is a showcase for some new and exciting acts that are going to show they’ve got what it takes to keep Blues and Roots music alive and well into the future. The weekend should well and truly whet your appetite for the Big Blues and Roots Festival in Windsor come October. The headline act at The Fitz will be Genevieve and The Stones Throw. This is the band and with Jeremy Edwards on guitar and they welldeserved headliners. Sure to impress all who rock up to the mini-festival are Claude Hay and Luke Escombe. Hailing from the Blue Mountains, award-winning Australian solo artist Claude Hay blends slide guitar, bass and drums to create music that invokes the best of stomping traditional blues, hard rock and booty-shaking funk. All delivered with chops to burn and a vocal range to match. As winner of Best Live Act at the Australian Music Independent Awards (2013), Claude is perhaps the world’s ultimate Do-It- Yourself musician forging his live sound on the back of looping technology which allows him to create a band vibe without the band. This approach has seen this fiercely independent artist build an audience for his music globally with Claude Hay. Bird In Hand Inn PITT TOWN 81 Bathurst St, Pitt Town p 4572 3372 Everyday tuesday All day & night All Pastas $12 with garlic bread trivia every tuesday Starting 7.30pm Great Prizes & Giveaways wednesday Schnitzel $12.50 Full menu also available thursday - sunday Shuttle Bus Pick Up / Drop Off Phone 0447 148 246 Sunday 10th May MOTHER’S DAY Menu Entree Pumpkin Soup with Bread Roll Shrimp Cocktail Any 2 courses $28.50 Any 3 courses $35.00 the release of three award-winning home-made albums plus a live DVD release. Luke Escombe is an awardwinning singer-songwriter, guitarist, comedian and speaker. His 2011 musical comedy show “Chronic” took him to festivals around the world, including the Edinburgh Fringe and earned him a nomination for a Green Room Award. The following year his selfproduced album “Mantown” spent nine straight months in the top 10 of the Australian Blues and Roots chart, earning comparisons to the likes of Bruce Springsteen and Nick Cave. 
Luke has performed for three years in a row at Parliament House in Canberra, as well as at the New Zealand National Museum in Wellington, the 2012 and 2014 National Medicines Symposiums, the 2013 Pharmacy Australia Congress, and at conferences, workshops, support groups and nursing homes across the country. He is an ambassador for Crohn’s and Colitis Australia and a Champion of Australian Pain Management, and the proud winner of a 2011 competition on radio station Mix 106.5FM to find “Sydney’s sexiest man voice”

 Earlier in 2014 Luke simultaneously released his first feature length DVD “Chronic Symphonic” along with 18-track live album “Live on the Coast”. Reviewing these albums in the Sydney Morning Herald, critic John Shand wrote: “Luke Escombe is funny and brave, a showman and an artist, a brilliantly engaging lyricist, expert tunesmith, fine guitarist and exceptional singer. Seldom is such sophistication wrapped in a coating of such overt fun.” See page 37 for more info & contact details Main Creamy Chicken & Mushroom Pie with Salad Free glass of wine or bubbles with meal Roast Lamb with baked & steamed Vegetables Desert Pavlova Choc Molten Pudding Mother’s Day Gift Basket RAFFLE state of origin game 1 LIVE AT THE wednesday may 27 BIRD Jacket raffles support the blues raffles LARGE MEAT TRAYS + TWO State of Origin JACKETS DAILY BLACKBOARD LUNCH & DINNER NEW AREA SPECIALS AVAILABLE FREE Sunday entertainment Sundays from 2pm rough stock duo 10 May anton zammit 24 May ian francis 17 May crossroad 31 May WE SUPPORT RESPONSIBLE SERVICE OF ALCOHOL DUTY of CARE This venue supports designated drivers. Is gambling a problem for you? Call G-LINE (NSW) a confidential anonymous & free counseling service FREE CALL 1800 633 635 HAWKESBURY DISTRICT INDEPENDENT NEWS www.hdinews.com.au ISSUE 60 // MAY 2015 39