The 2026 edition of the Lincoln Blues Festival, put on by Stephen Stanley of Solid Entertainments, had a stellar line-up of UK Blues award winners & nominees. It was located in the new venue of Southside in Lincoln which was the former St. Katherine’s church.
The line-up, headlined by Birmingham’s Blue Nation, also included Thomas Heppell, Mississippi MacDonald (fresh from his winning for the 3rd time the Acoustic Blues Act Award and so has been inducted into the Hall of Fame), Cardiff’s Laura Evans, Birmingham’s Big Wolf Band and Paul Cook Blues Band from the banks of the River Thames in London.
To kick off the day we had the Paul Cook Blues Band with a line-up of Paul Cook (guitar & vocals), John Howitt (bass), Pat Hacket (guitar) & Alan Savage (drums). They gave us some traditional blues on songs such as ‘Back Door Slam’ with its great slide guitar and heavy R&B beat, ‘When I Get Home’ which included a great blues solo on a 1960s influenced song, ‘Key to the Highway’ with its up-tempo beat and great blues vocals from Paul and finished with ‘If you Don’t Love the Blues’.
Then from Birmingham we had Big Wolf Band with a line-up of Jonathan Earp (guitar & vocals), Justin Johnson (guitar & vocals), Timbo Jones (drums), Mike Hatton (bass) & Arran Shanghavi (keyboards). Their set of raunchy blues numbers kicked off with ‘Living on Borrowed Times’ and ‘Valley of the Fallen Kings’ with powerful vocals and great guitar work.
The set also included two brand new songs from their upcoming EP with first ‘Money & Run’ with its heavy drum beat to start into a heavier R&B beat with powerful vocals and great keys from Arran. The second new song was ‘What’s the Deal (Too Much) with a brilliant blues sound and great vocals from Jonathan.
Justin took over the vocals on ‘Rolling with Thunder’ with its great lead guitar break from Jonathan. Taking the tempo down a bit we had ‘Standing in the Rain’ with its gentle keyboard and passionate vocals.
They finished with the rockier number ‘Empire & a Prayer’ before the very personal song for Jonathan ‘Darkest of My Days’ which was about losing his son Adam in 2009. They finished for an encore with the powerful ‘Hot Blooded Woman’
Then from Cardiff we had Laura Evans, who had been shortlisted for Emerging Band of the Year at the recent UK Blues Award. She has been supporting The Cinelli Brothers (who have just won Band of the Year at the UK Blues Awards).
The line-up was Laura Evans (vocals), Daisy Pepper (bass) Joe Hazel (guitar & BVs) & Neil Findlay (drums). Her sound is a mix of Americana, Blues & Country.
She started with ‘Solo’ with its Americana influenced vocals and solid rhythm section and ‘Running Back to You’ with its powerful blues vocals.
Then the rocky number ‘Fire vs Fire’ with Nashville inspired vocals and great drum backing beat. This was followed by a country blues number ‘Arkansas’ written by Chris Stapleton.
Laura (who got married last year) had penned a song ‘Superman’ about her husband with its Southern feel and very relevant vocals. She is a great admirer of Bonnie Raitt so included her song ‘Love Me Like a Man’ with its funky soulful tempo and great vocals by Laura.
She also included a new song ‘Always & Forever’ as a happy wedding song with soulful beat & vocals.
Then we had the Blues Hall of Famer Mississippi MacDonald from London with a line-up of Mississippi MacDonald (guitar & vocals), Jim Kimberley (drums), Phil Dearing (guitar) and Nashville’s Brent Cundall (bass).
The set kicked off with the title track from his last band album ‘Heavy State Loving Blues’ and then ‘Drinkers Blues’ with great blues guitar from Mac with its deep south feel.
A song Mac had recently recorded in Memphis was ‘What Have You Done’ with its offbeat style and great vocals from Mac. Another Memphis recorded song was ‘Blind Leading the Blind’ with its southern influenced vocals and great rhythm section backing.
A slower song about those we had lost was ‘I’m Sorry’ followed by the passionate vocals and funky heavy beat on ‘I was Wrong’.
Another new song was ‘What Love Is’ again recorded in Memphis with its slower offbeat rhythm, soaring vocals and great guitar picking from Mac.
He finished as an encore with ‘Ain’t Nobodies Business’ which is a slower tempo song with passionate vocals and great guitar riffs.
Next up we had the great blues guitarist and entertainer Thomas Heppell with a band line-up of Thomas Heppell (guitar & vocals), Adam Pyke (bass & backing vocals) and Mitch Weaving (drums).
He included songs from his recently released ‘Rollin’ and Tumblin’ EP with its Robert Johnson songs, and started with ‘Terraplanes Blues’ which is an upbeat blues song with Thomas giving his all with slide guitar and strident vocals. Then was followed by ‘Boss Man’ with its heavy drumming, great slide guitar and supporting bass line along with strident vocals from Thomas.
We had a bit of BB King with the slow blues song ‘Done Lost Your Good Thing Now’ with its blues beat from Thomas, before finishing sitting down on the front of the stage.
Thomas always has one song with crowd involvement and this time he used his own song ‘Victim of Circumstance’ and segued into a bit of Jimi Hendrix.
He finished with the requested ‘Statesboro Blues’ and its lovely slide guitar, solid drums and heavy bass, the title track from his new EP Rollin’ and Tumblin’ before he finished with ‘Shake Your Money Maker’ with Thomas getting more carried away before firstly playing in the audience before jumping off a speaker to climax the song and his set.
The festival finished with a great set from Birmingham’s Blue Nation who won Emerging Band of the Year at last year’s UK Blues Awards. Their line-up was Neil Murdock (guitar & vocals) Luke Weston (bass & vocals) and Nick Sharman (drums).
They kicked off with ‘Gimme Some Time’ and the title track from their last album ‘Ordinary People’. Their songs have great vocals and harmonies from Neil & Luke backed by Nick’s heavy powerful drumming.
Then we had a slower funkier number with ‘Hand Me Down’ with Neil plaintive vocals before the great harmonies on ‘The Reason’.
Before the next song ‘Good Times’ we had a humorous chat from Neil & Luke about which parts of Birmingham then came from, and so how they spoke!
This was followed by the fans favourite ‘The Ranger’ which is a heavy rock number with high register and long notes to hold for Neil.
Their love of the Beatles was shown with the song Melody which includes part of ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’ written by George Harrison.
The set also included two news songs with ‘Watch Me Fly’ which will be their next single with its raunchy rhythm, great strong vocals from Neil and heavy drums from Nick. Followed be the title track from their new soon to be released EP ‘Wisdom for Pennies’ with its heavy Rocky beat, plaintive vocals from Neil, great harmonies with Luke with a funky middle section.
The set concluded with ‘Time Is a Thief’ with its brilliant harmonies, ‘Run Straight Ahead’ which Luke played sitar on the album version and is Dom Martin’s favourite Blue Nation Song.
For an encore the band first played the very emotive ‘Echoes’ which Luke introduces as it is about men’s mental health and is why the band supports Ian’s Chain charity, and includes great harmonies from Neil & Luke. The evening finished with crowd participation on the anthemic song ‘Down by the River’.