Amnesia Blues Band

You can’t forget the Amnesia Blues Band! Winner of the MBAS band of the year 2016, they drive home a set of original roots blues with stories of hard drinkin women, lost loves and broken dreams. Headed out by Buck Buchanan on vox and acoustic, their gigs are full of jiving fans who just can’t sit still. Rock solid rhythm section of Stu Anderson and Sandy Clark underpin lead guitar from Blake Sadler and Salty Trevarthen’s impressionist electric harp playing. Blues is the healer indeed. Latest album out ‘We Still Remember’

Playing Sunday 19th 2:00pm

Backsliders

BACKSLIDERS have been playing, touring the festival circuit and recording for over 25 years. Their sound melds driving Delta and Mississippi Hill country blues sounds with original 21st Century new blues anthems. Slide Guitarist, multi-stringed instrumentalist, songwriter and vocalist, Dom Turner, is the founding member of the group, accompanied by acclaimed drum and percussion virtuoso and songwriter Rob Hirst (Midnight Oil). Latest album out ‘Heathen Songbook‘.

Playing Friday 17th 10:30pm

CHRIS RUSSELL’S CHICKEN WALK

CHRIS RUSSELL’S CHICKEN WALK play Chrississipian music. It’s a lot like North Mississippi Hill Country Juke Joint Party Ass Blues. Songwriter and performer, Chris is joined by Dave Foley on drums and this newly evolved two piece live sound seems impossibly larger than the sum of its parts, filling rooms with hypnotic boogie bypassing the mind and heading straight for the hips. You like it down and dirty… CRCW are the goods!

Playing Friday 17th 9:00pm

CHRIS WILSON BAND

Chris Wilson is a legendary Australian blues musician who plays harmonica, guitar and vocals. He has performed as part of the Sole Twisters, Harem Scarem, Paul Kelly and the Coloured Girls and fronted his own band Crown of Thorns. It’s been noted by one reviewer that Chris has a taste for the monumental with his “big, rangy, high-impact voice supported his flair for the dramatic flourish and the grand gesture”. As a performer Wilson shows “a dry, laconic wit between songs, a fervent, let-it-all-out wailer when he begins to sing”.

Playing Sunday 19th 8:00pm

Dan Dinnen

Dan Dinnen is the real deal. Dan sings, plays finger-style guitar and howls into the harp. He’s represented the MBAS competing in the International Blues Challenge on Beale Street, Memphis, and again in 2017. Dan pens original blues-infused tunes and bends the country folk blues to his own will. He backs heself, fronts the Hoodoo Men and his own trio… come and hear why Dan won Blues Performer of the Year. Dinnen and beers in the garden at Holler. Now that’s somethin’.

Playing Sunday 19th (Beer Garden) 1:30 – 6:30pm

FIONA BOYES & FORTUNE TELLERS

FIONA BOYES, an Australian blues guitarist, vocalist and songwriter, has been recording and performing for more than 25 years, building a career that has taken her to major festivals and stages around the world.  Listen to her play and you’ll hear pre-war Delta slide, wailing laments, single chord Mississippi Hills grooves, intricate and beautiful Piedmont finger picking, rollicking New Orleans barrelhouse, greasy Memphis soul, driving classic Chicago sounds, Texas swing, and the uptown sounds of the West Coast. Latest album ‘Professin’ The Blues‘ has been nominated as best Acoustic Blues Album of the year for the 2017 Blues Music Awards in Memphis TN!

Playing Saturday 18th 6:30pm

HAT FITZ & CARA

“They pack more energy, emotion and sheer musical exuberance into one song than most manage in a whole career.” Spiral Earth, UK
Hat Fitz and Cara are a striking pair who seldom fail to deliver an electric live performance on stage. Their original compositions are seeped in Folk and Blues with an authentic Gospel sound as if written from a time once forgotten.  Winners of Blues album of the year 2013 in the Australian Chain awards and UK Spiral Earth.  2015 Best Vocal of year Chain Awards.Semi Finalists in USA Memphis International Blues Challenge 2015. Latest album out ‘After The Rain’.
**** Country Peoples Mag ( UK)
**** Rhythms Mag (AUS)
**** Get Ready To Rock ( UK)

Playing Sunday 19th 5:00pm

JAMES SOUTHWELL BAND WITH CHARLIE WOOTON(USA)/ CHRIS WILSON

JAMES SOUTHWELL has been playing guitar & singing since he was 7 years old. He has played on stage with Australia’s greatest blues band Chain, The Kevin Borich Express, Phil Manning, Stevie Wright and a host of other well known Australian artists.

CHARLIE WOOTON was born and raised in Lafayette, Louisiana, where he was exposed to all aspects of music, from the class room to the LaLas (The Dance) in the backwoods and in the streets of New Orleans. Studying Jazz and Classical during the day then playing Funk and Zydeco gigs at night, affording Charlie  a very diverse musical education.

Playing Sunday 19th 9:30pm

JEFF LANG

JEFF LANG is an Australian songwriter, singer and slide guitarist. A leading performer in the Australian roots music scene and purveyor of his self-described “disturbed folk” style, which incorporates primarily folk, blues and rock. Lang has built up a reputation for startlingly original performances, working without a set list, allowing the unique energy of each night to shape the songs and is critically acclaimed as a truly great guitar player. The unusual thing is that the guitar playing never gets in the way of the music, nor overshadows his gift for hauntingly poetic songwriting.

Playing Saturday 18th 9:30pm

Miss Whiskey

Representing MBAS in the International Blues Challenge in January 2016, Miss Whiskey is that raw, gritty blues duo that splits the moonbeam on the bayou. Anna Scionti on guitar and Julie Noble on blues harp do the bizness, channeling the greats with some damn fine originals. Think Janis Joplin, Big Mama Thornton or Suzie Quatro’s dirty gravel and you got it! Yep, Miss Whiskey acoustic in the Holler beer garden, that’s real nice!

Playing Sunday 19th (Beer Garden) 1:30 – 6:30pm

MORELAND & ARBUCKLE (USA)

Moreland & Arbuckle are a powerhouse three piece blues / roots rock band out of Kansas, USA. Playing to packed venues in the US, UK and Europe, they are here to headline the inaugural HOLLER Fest.
Their music is loved across the spectrum from delta blues, hill country roots to rock, expertly executed with musical muscle and fifth-gear urgency. Their songs hit hard, with scenes of double-crossed lovers, women meaner than the devil and isolated loners searching for redemption. This band is the meaning of kool, make no mistake. Their seventh album ‘Promised Land or Bust‘ is out now on Alligator Records, and nominated as best Rock Blues Album of the year for the 2017 Blues Music Awards in Memphis TN!

Playing Saturday 18th 11:00pm

Rod Paine & Full Time Lovers

A smokin’ 50’s inspired Blues Combo headed by hep cat Rod Paine on harp and vox. Influenced by Lazy Lester, Slim Harpo, Jimmy Reed, Guitar Slim and all that’s down and dirty. The members have rolled their way thru the Australian Blues Roots scene for the past 25 years or so. Howlin Time, Straight 8’S, Blue Devil, Rocket 88’s, The Redliners to name a few.  Winners of the 2013 blues challenge and travelled to Memphis TN to represent Australia in the 2014 IBC. The real thing tone hounds!

Playing Saturday 18th 5:00pm

SUZANNAH ESPIE AND THE LAST WORD

SUZANNAH ESPIE AND THE LAST WORD present an excellent batch of original songs in the Southern Soul mode. The band features the formidable Sean McMahon on guitar,  and a smokin’ rhythm section; Chris Rogers on bass and Dave Folley on drums. The country soul sound of her music perfectly channels the emotion in her songs with great weight and sensitivity from traditional country to fragile folk.

Playing Sunday 19th 6:30pm

Sweet Felicia & The Honeytones

You wanna hit up on the groove? Then Sweet Felicia just can’t be beat. With THAT famous 72 Fender bass (signed by B.B. King!) and vox that nail you down, come and hear one of the best in town. Swing and Jump Blues is just the start with this gal. A multi award winner, with her band the Honeytones Felicia represented Australia in Memphis and tours Europe packing out the festivals and venues. Standby for a HOLLER set full of groove laden jumpin’ jive. You won’t forget it!

Playing Sunday 19th 3:30pm

THE LACHY DOLEY GROUP

LACHY DOLEY is Australia’s most celebrated Blues Soul Rock Organ Player. He’s been dubbed the Jimi Hendrix of the Hammond Organ, a player who can pump, pamper and occasionally pound the most unbelievable sounds from a keyboard: sounds that are intense, ferocious and sometimes transcendent. The Lachy Doley Group are a power trio consisting of Bass, Drums and of course Doley firing on the Hammond, his vocal screaming from the heart and the incredibly rare Hohner D6 Whammy Clavinet a 70 stringed keyboard with a huge Whammy Bar sticking out the guts of it. Rave reviews at Australian festivals and across Europe. You will believe!! New album out ‘Lovelight‘.

Playing Saturday 18th 8:00pm

The Mojo Corner

Mojo Corner are the new breed of blues out of the Bellarine. They hit hard with the sounds of the Chicago masters bent to their own will. A powerhouse engine room drives the guitar stylings of Johnny Hawken’s and Rory Millar’s killer harp and vox. Favourites on the festival circuit, you will sign on as new fans when you feel the power of the Mojo Corner. Dig it!

Playing Saturday 18th 2:00pm

The Teskey Brothers

The Teskey Brothers came to be from seeking blues and roots of the greats from an early age, when exposed to musicians such as Peter Green, Otis Redding and Ray Charles. Thus began the musical convergence of Warrandyte Blues-Soul and everything in between. From 2008 the band have been stunning audiences with their style and power in the blues and soulful playing, winning legions of fans across the spectrum. Don’t miss this outfit when they hit the Caravan stage for the first time at HOLLER. New album out now ‘Half Mile Harvest‘.

Playing Saturday 18th 3:30pm

Three Kings

It’s been said that Three Kings sound like an “old 45 found in the bottom of an abandoned shed. So real you can practically hear the record crackle and the needle pop when they are onstage”. THREE KINGS were officially formed in 2011 by Ian Collard (vocals, guitar, harmonica), Benny Peters (vocals and guitar), and Jason Liu Soon (drums). The hard-hitting, greasy blues style takes you on a dangerous joy ride through the back roads and juke joints of American music history.

Playing Friday 17th 7:30pm

Wayne Jury

Get ready for Wayne Jury in the Holler beer garden. If you’ve heard Jury, you’ll know that the title ‘coolest cat’ fits the bill. Wayne is the consummate bluesman with the style, guitar and vox to drive your grandma outta the house! Festival Director, songwriter, mentor – he even has friends in Sydney! But we forgive him that – get down and hear this man at Holler fest. RIP IT UP… you’ve been warned.

Playing Saturday 18th (Beer Garden) 1:30 – 5:00pm

Werewolves of Melbourne

“…Blazing a trail of high-octane rhythm & blues.”
Werewolves of Melbourne are led by artist Zevon Hiltz and backed by some of the best in the business! Welding a sound risen from the haze of the Mississippi delta region, the blues clubs of Chicago, & the hellfire streets of their hometown Melbourne – it’s a look into the future of blues that has past, soulful as a preacher, powerful as a locomotive…”

Playing Friday 17th 6:15pm