BLUES rocker Mat Walklate is inviting music lovers to enjoy some timeless classics at the Brook Street Club on Friday.

Mat will be teaming up with Tom Attah for a show featuring numbers by such blues legends as Muddy Waters, Howling Wolf, John Lee Hooker and Sonny Boy Williamson.

The evening is part of the Knutsford Music Festival, which is making a welcome return and will see more than 40 events at venues around the town centre, from Friday to Sunday.

Mat is one of the UK’s most accomplished blues harmonica players, and Tom is a soulful performer of new and original acoustic blues material.

Mat, from Sale, is a full-time professional musician and teaches the harmonica. This will be his first appearance at the festival, and he is looking forward to performing in the intimate surroundings of the Brook Street Club.

The 47-year-old said: “The set will be predominantly blues of the 1950s and 1960s, plus some originals in that vein.

“Most of the originals we’ll do on Friday will be ones that Tom’s written, and we might be able to throw in one of our latest tracks – we’ve just done some recording. It’s a relatively new festival, this is only the second year it’s been run, but by all accounts the first one was a big success and a good festival to play.

“It’s always a privilege to play any kind of festival, but certainly one like this that’s just down the road from me as well, and some of my family will be coming along on Friday.

“I’ve never been to the Brook Street Club before – it’s nice to have a relatively intimate venue because you get a lot of interaction with the audience. The atmosphere is generally more vibrant than if you’re playing in a concert hall to a thousand people sitting down.”

Mat met Tom through a mutual friend who they work with – a bass player who has been based in Manchester since the early 70s.

Mat added: “Tom was looking for a harmonica player, that’s how it started, and recently I’ve been playing more regularly with him – in the past few months we’ve probably done a dozen gigs.

“I always enjoy performing – there’s always something new, even in material you may have done 100 times before – you can always find something new.

“It’s always nice to feed off an audience and use the energy they have to propel your own performance.

“The majority of the material on Friday evening will be classic songs that anyone with a passing interest in blues would recognise – such as Muddy Waters, Howling Wolf, John Lee Hooker and Sonny Boy Williamson.

“There will also be a couple of obscurities in there – I also sing a ska number, a Jamaican song from the 1960s which is actually a 12-bar – it’s basically a blues song but in a ska style.

“It’s a song called Fat Man, originally by Derrick Morgan, and although it’s a ska song its fundamentally a 12-bar blues, so it’s interesting from that perspective.

“If you like music come down on Friday – the music is going to be accessible and very danceable.

“Blues is fundamentally quite a simple music – three chords, 12 bars – it’s lively and energetic, and the performances are different every time.

“There’s always a lot of spontaneity – things can go off on a tangent – we try and keep it fresh, and I think that’s what keeps people coming back to see us.”

As well as the pleasure of performing Mat also enjoys interacting with the audience.

He said: “It’s always nice to have a chat to people afterwards – harmonica players like to come up and talk about harmonicas – guitar players like to go and talk to Tom about guitars after a performance.”

Mat also performs with Irish traditional band The House Devils, and with Sicilian guitarist Paolo Fuschi.

Friday’s concert at the Brook Street Club also features Ashley Sherlock and The Gritstone Clays, and starts at 7pm.

The Gritstone Clays are a three-piece acoustic band playing blues, folk, rock and Americana with a twist. Ashley joins the bill after a successful performance at last year’s sell-out show. Influenced by the likes of Jeff Buckley, Radiohead and Hozier, he will be showcasing new music he recorded in Nashville, Tennessee.

n For Knutsford Music Festival tickets visit knutsfordtowncouncil.gov.uk/events/knutsford-music-festival