Buddy Knox has been working on his latest album, Ticket To Memphis for the past five years. However, his guitar skills have been carving up the Blues scene around Australia since 2007, having notched his Blues-belt with all the big ticket Australian festivals from Bridgetown to Bluesfest.
Ticket To Memphis weaves the unique Buddy Knox story into its songs – It’s powerful music, bluesy and genuine.
Buddy has won the “Sydney Blues Society Performer of the Year” TWICE, and continues to share his old school Blues style with fans. He plays with smooth finesse, in the tasty authentic style of the old legends. Armed with his signature 335 Gibson, his devotion to the art form is undeniable.
He’s been referred to as Australia’s very own BB King, but expect a dash of Freddie King guitar in his styling. Buddy’s recent move to acoustic Blues gives fans the intimate experience of bare bones genuine Blues…Knox style.
Buddy is the eldest son of country artist Roger Knox, who grew up immersed in music as a way of life. The influence of music in his Community was a huge everyday event, someone always played guitar, or sang and people gathered to enjoy.
Buddy said he was “a dreamer” who yearned to play like Chuck Berry. Chuck was on the home record player a lot and Buddy thought, “If only I could just play like that”.
He was taught three chords by his Mother Vivian, when he was 10, and practised on a community guitar which was missing two strings. He learned by watching and listening to other players and never had lessons.
Around the time he was 14, his Father asked him to play for him in his Band “Euraba”. Roger had been recuperating after surviving two plane crashes where one band member was sadly killed in one of the plane wrecks. “He didn’t have to ask me twice,” said Buddy. He jumped at the chance and started touring with the Euraba band. He experienced riots with community and police clashes, bomb threats and fairly tough touring conditions, but loved it – playing was all he wanted to do.
As his guitar skills continued to develop, he was invited on tour with Brian Young. Brian was a travelling troubadour who toured with a Band around the outback and desert regions of Australia covering around 35000 klms per tour.. Buddy has continued to play with other incredible artists; Auriel Andrew, Bobby McLeod, Jimmy Little, Vic Simms and he was even called up by Warumpi to play guitar on their gigs at the Big Day Out, as well as other concerts.
Ticket To Memphis is the culmination of Buddy’s life experiences, with original songs (Track-by-track commentary below) that see Buddy write alongside collaborators Gareth Hudson and Nick Higginbotham. Perhaps his proudest collaboration though, is having his three children playing and singing on some album tracks. With songs tackling the complete spectrum of life on the road, family, love (won, lost & fought back), regret and above all, celebration – Ticket To Memphis and Buddy Knox will reignite your belief in the power of story, song and smoking hot guitar playing!
Click here for a video portrait of Buddy Knox & his Blues Band – https://vimeo.com/63298789
BUDDY KNOX – TICKET TO MEMPHIS
CATALOGUE # FANFARE350
RELEASE DATE: 17.01.20
Website: www.buddyknox.com.au
Facebook: www.facebook.com/buddyknoxblues
TICKET TO MEMPHIS (Track-by-track commentary)
01. BIG CITY MEAN STREETS
No matter how many times I visit Australian cities, I always have the desire to get back to the comfort of my own Gamilaaray country. The beat of the Red Rattlers on the North West rail line tells me I’m on my way home.
02. TICKET TO MEMPHIS
Because someone I cared about believed in me and my music, I kept writing and performing during the hard times. Real milestones were twice winning entry into the International Blues Challenge in Memphis.
03. CALLING FROM THE OUTSIDE
At one point I knew I had to break away from my former life and angry thoughts. I want my children to see who I am now and work out new beginnings of their own.
04. A WAY OUT OF NO WAY
Grandma Phyllis was a tiny girl when stolen from her Gamilaaray family in Dhuumala and taken to an orphanage in the NSW far south coast. As a teenager Phyllis kept her promise. She broke away and followed her mother’s song lines home. The musical dynasty she founded passes down through me to my children and beyond.
05. BUNGUNYA
These are my earliest childhood memories playing alone among the Bungunya train sheds on the Queensland border. Somehow, sitting at my Nan’s feet while she strummed that old Gibson, I found a truth: You have to cross every river on your own.
06. BABY GIRL
Stepping back another generation, this song tells great-grandmother Emily’s story of losing baby Phyllis. One day, standing by the river in Dhuumala, the Aboriginal Protection Board arrived and brought a lifetime of pain.
07. MESSAGE IN STONE
Sometimes relationships with people can smoother you. Then you want to chisel in stone what it feels like to break free. We bring a reggae blues fusion to hammer this message home.
08. GOTTA GET IT RIGHT WITH HER (BUDDY’S SLOW JAM)
In the dead of night, it dawns on you that people you love are more precious than staying stuck in the past. At heart, I’m a lover, not a fighter.
09. SECOND CHANCE
If I am trying too hard, and fall over, the gift of a second chance is all I need to say I’m sorry. Goori and Quarralia Knox square off in a second chance rap duel.
10. TABLE FOR TWO
Waiting impatiently at a table for two, with big, big news. Best thing to pass the time is a strong brew of cappuccino
