The April 2026 meeting of the Blues Club at Temperance in Leamington Spa was an Upton Blues Festival Takeover hosted by their Director of Music (and Leamington Spa resident Stephen 'Stein' Steinhaus).
He had put on a spectacular line up of Sophia Vassalos, Ben Clempson, Holly Hewitt & the Blues Alphabet and headliners Alex Voysey Trio.
To a sold out audience, including the dozen who had joined the pre-event supper club organised by co-owner Emma Colburn, were ready for another top night of blues music.
The night featuring no just one person playing percussion on a cajon but three!
First up we had Sophia Vassalos on vocals & acoustic guitar with Adam 'Stix' on cajun for the first gig for over 300 days!. They normally play with their band Hatstand. Sophia had a great voice and guitar, with great percussion support from Adam and her set included 'I Can't Play No Tambourine', 'Moon over Memphis' and finished with 'Willing' featuring Stein on additional harmony.
After a short break we had Ben Clempson (guitar & vocals) and Tom Voce (cajon) with Ben's powerful vocals and expressive guitar picking with great support on cajon by Tom. Ben normally plays with his wife in a band called Clemancy, but after a recent child was born Ben is playing either solo or with Tom on percussion. He had known Tom for over 20 years and he had played with him on an early album.
Their set included 'Pillar to Post' Long Gone' and 'Fly' and they finished witha cover of the Bobby Charles song 'He's Got the Whisky' (though Ben knows the John Martin version better).
After a further break to get more drinks and cake host Stephen Steinhaus returned on vocals with Holly Hewitt & Jono Wright on guitar & vocals as the Holly Hewitt & the Blues Alphabet. This is one of the many combos that Stein has put together with local Warwickshire musicians and they played a couple of numbers including 'Always a Use' & 'Boomers Story' before they were joined by guests Adam on cajon and Ben Hands on bass to give an even fully sound. The song 'Deep River Blues' gave us some great harmonies from Holly, Stein & Jono.
They finished with Holly on lead vocals on 'I'm an Evil Gal' and then joined by Alex Voysey on acoustic guitar for 'Feels Like Rain' with audience participation and 'Gimme One Reason which segued into 'Goin' Down'
Then after the final break we had the headliners the Alex Voysey Trio from just over the border in Gloucestershire. the line-up was Alex Voysey (guitar & vocals), Ben Hands (bass) and Paul Arthurs (cajon).
This was an acoustic version of their set which is not as full on soundwise as their normal electric band version but was worth taking notice as the songs were given a different but powerful style.
The great bass playing from Ben on his 5 string bass (he also plays with a 6 string bass) which is fretless, compliments Alex on guitar and Paul Arthurs percussion completes the sound.
They kicked off with a fan favorite 'Forbidden Rock n Roll Jam' and an extended version of 'Make this Work' with Alex showing why he is such a highly regarded guitar player.
Alex is a fan of Joe Bonamassa and tours with a show 'Faux Bonamassa' where he plays his songs. So the set contained an acoustic version of 'The Ballad of John Henry' in a swampy style.
Alex is also a member of Burning Rope formed with two members from Catfish and his band gave us an acoustic version of 'Not Guilty' from the soon to be released second album 'Disssolution'
The evening finished with Stein thanking the performers and new owners of Temperance (Emma Colburn & James Knight) and for the audience for buying tickets and attending. The next Upton Blues Festival Takeover of the Blues Night will take place in September 2026.