Eugene Hideaway Bridges with Rory Ellis
2008 REFLECTION TOUR
News just in: Eugene Nominated for 2 WC Handy Awards:
Soul Blues Male Artist of the Year
Soul Blues Album of the Year – Eugene Hideaway Bridges
2007 was the Anniversary of EUGENE HIDEAWAY BRIDGES. 40 Years of playing guitar and singing around the world. A celebration of everything that has been a part of his music from 1967. A 40 year mile stone of all he’s come through to get where he is today. Now 2008 is the year Eugene has chosen to reflect back.
“This is my year of Reflection. Over the many things I have been blessed to have been a part of. The Cities and towns around the world I have been able to share my music with. The many friends who are like family I have made along the way. To go back to some of the older songs from my earlier CDs that touched people hearts, To give thanks for all the love I have received around the world, and to open new doors , to cover new ground, to understand where I’ve been so I’ll know where I’m going. A time to look back and be thankful for what I have done and a time to look forward to the next 40 years.”
ABOUT EUGENE HIDEAWAY BRIDGES
Nomadic blues troubadour Eugene Hideaway Bridges’ home is wherever the next performance takes him, and every year this is from America through Europe, to Australia with many other stops on the way. A man of abundant talent & charm, Eugene delivers a celebration of American Blues Music that is a joy to behold. If you’ve seen him, you know the love he brings to his shows, and what a superb entertainer in the style of BB King and Robert Cray he is. If you haven’t seen him before, take the opportunity now and enjoy one of the finest American blues talents on offer.
Born in 1963, the son of the blues guitarist ‘Hideaway’ Slim, Eugene is the fourth child of five. His mother was from the Bullock family (the same as Anna Mae Bullock better known as Tina Turner) and Eugene claims he got his guitar skills from the Bridges side and his voice from the Bullocks.
At five he was already playing with his father around Louisiana. With his brothers as The Bridges Brothers he sang gospel and was the musician of his church touring with the Pastor, Elder AA Edwards. At thirteen Eugene was entering R&B talent shows and had formed his first R&B band, The Five Stars.
Eugene moved to Texas to join the Air Force at sixteen, playing in the Air Force band for the next three years. On leaving he joined The New Chosen Singers on guitar and vocals and went on to play with The Mighty Clouds of Joy.
Following a move to Houston, Eugene released Blues, Gospel and R&B recordings by the three bands he was running at the time. These included the first line-up of the Eugene Hideaway Bridges Band. They toured the USA from coast to coast.
Eugene then travelled alone to Europe, where BB King Bassist Big Joe Turner spotted him in Paris, offering him the position of Lead Guitarist/Vocalist with Big Joe Turners Memphis Blues Caravan. A year later he left to work under his own name again and formed The Eugene Hideaway Bridges Band.
After four CDs recorded with his full band, for his self titled release ‘Eugene Hideaway Bridges’ he went into the studio with friends and fellow musicians met on the road. Lucky Oceans, co-founder of the Western Swing band ‘Asleep at the Wheel’, plays some fine Pedal Steel on three tracks, Ian Moss is on Guitar on another, Clayton Doley joins in on Hammond on two more and Texan legend Ray Wylie Hubbard lays down some fine Slide Guitar on ‘I Can’t Wait’. This new release went straight into the Living Blues charts at Number 10.
He’s one of the finest soul/blues/gospel singer/ songwriting guitarists you’ll come across. Eugene is a man blessed with a level of talent and craftsmanship far beyond his years and is the man who “really could be God’s gift to the future of the blues.” – Juke Blues.
VIC TOUR DATES
FEBRUARY 2008
Friday February 1
Northcote Social Club
www.northcotesocialclub
with Rory Ellis
301 High St NORTHCOTE
Ph: 03 9486 1677
Tickets $20 & bf presale / $25 at door
Sunday February 3
Williamstown RSL
with Rory Ellis
128 Ferguson St WILLIAMSTOWN
Ph: 03 9397 7642
Tickets $20 at door
