A musical highlight of Fringe 2000 will be a four-night season at the Circa Studio by The Windy City Strugglers.
"The Windy City Strugglers In Concert"
will take the audience on a personal tour of the blues and its tributaries, as well as reflect the group's own 30-year odyssey. Formed in Wellington in the late '60s, the Strugglers' have defied the
passage of time and the laws of probability to remain active into the new millennium. Though the Stugglers' began as a jug band, they have evolved over the years to incorporate everything from country
blues to calypso, R&B to gospel, plus a clutch of classy originals. They have released two albums, which both won Best Folk Album in the New Zealand Music Awards. The five-piece group revolves around
the blues-soaked singing, songwriting and guitar playing of Bill Lake, and the immensley soulful vocals of Rick Bryant. Their long-serving cohorts are Andrew Delahunty on harmonica and mandolin, Geoff
Rashbrooke on piano and guitar, and Nick Bollinger on double bass. The move to a theatre from their customary pubs and clubs gives audiences a rare opportunity to experience the richness and variety of the
Strugglers' repertoire in an intimate setting. "Their music has that authentic Mississippi twang; every song, they sound as though they've just come in from the bayou, catching mudfish"
-Denis Welch, Listener |
