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Cerys Matthews' Blue Horizon

Cerys Matthews's Blue Horizon

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Music: Jazz & Blues: Blues

BBC Radio 4 Extra - Cerys Matthews's Blue Horizon

Cerys Matthews indulges her passion for the seminal British blues record label.

Singer Cerys Matthews indulges her passion for the seminal British blues label - Blue Horizon records. From 2012.  

Among Cerys Matthews's landmark musical memories is a very sunny summer Sunday afternoon in 2009.

It was the day that, browsing albums in Portobello Market, she parted with £70 and took home a rare copy of Fleetwood Mac's Sweet Pious Bird of Youth. She played it over and over again. She was hooked.

Since that day, Cerys has passionately fed her addiction to Blue Horizon records – seeking out and amassing a valuable collection of gems that are almost too precious to play.

Blue Horizon linked the roots of American blues with the 1960s UK blues scene. It was the home of US blues artists Champion Jack Dupree, Bukka White, Mississippi Joe Callicott and Furry Lewis, Eddie Boyd, Otis Spann, Ainsley Dunbar, Elmore James, plus British artists Chicken Shack and Fleetwood Mac.

Label founder Mike Vernon also invented the blues sound heard today. In 1966, he produced the Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton, considered one of the most influential British blues recordings. It was notable for its driving rhythms and Clapton's rapid blues licks with a full distorted sound derived from a Gibson Les Paul and a Marshall amp. This became something of a classic combination for British blues guitarists.

Cerys talks to Mike about his blues passion and how he left old-school Decca Records to strike out on his own. Artists from Blue Horizon's roster, including former members of The Yardbirds, Fleetwood Mac and Chicken Shack reflect on the part Blue Horizon played in their careers and establishing the credibility of Britain as a home for the blues.

Producer: Nick Barraclough

A Smooth Operations production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in June 2012.

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