Cherry Lee Mewis

She’s a 5ft-nothing-24-year-old-white girl from North Wales, who has helped turn roots ‘n’ blues music into a cool, swinging fusion that’s both classic and oddly modern.

It’s 2 years on from Cherry’s first blues effort, Little Girl Blue, which was received with open arms and introduced a whole new audience to the smouldering sound of Cherry Lee Mewis, firmly securing Cherry’s place as one of the rising stars on the UK Blues scene today, taking her music from the tiny clubs of Bedford, to festivals in the UK and Europe, such as Italy’s Tropea Blues Festival, Shetland Blues Festival, The Barbican International Jazz & Blues Festival and Cambridge Rock Festival, naming just a few.

The winter of 2008 saw Cherry finally pack her bags for good and leave her tiny village hometown in north Wales, to her adopted home of Bedford. “I’ve been making music here since I was 17, so it’s not totally alien to me, but moving permanently away from family and loved ones’ was and it left me facing totally new life experiences...”

Southbound Train, the new album, is full of foot-stomping barnburners to bluesy slow-cooked rockers with even a spoonful of jazzy shuffle, supported by a band of slick smokin’ musicians. Carrying on from where Little Girl Blue left off, it gets even more personal, more exposed, and more revealing. The ‘nittiest of the grittiest’ where Cherry’s voice is still capable of pinning a listener to the back wall. Does it still carry the dusty tang of the trainyard in today’s modern day studio surroundings? “Absolutely,” says Cherry, “it ain’t where you at but where you been!”

“When I started this record, I knew that, artistically, I had to grow and after the first album and some live performances, I was itching to have a full band behind me so Max (Milligan, her collaborative music partner of 5 years) and I got recruiting! After starting out acoustic, we knew the music needed balls and roughing up which it got…” Accompanying Max Milligan on acoustic guitar, Nicky Slater (acoustic guitar & dobro), Robbie Mathews (bass & backing vox), Jeff Dakin (blues harp) and Fergus Shipman (drums), are her Blues Gems as she calls them; Cherry feels more drive behind her at the live shows. “They sure as hell fuel my fire!” she laughs.

The 14 cuts on Southbound Train include new arrangements of four 20’s blues numbers that are red hot and smoking proving not to be just an echo of their original raw originators. “Travellin’ Light” especially features some great saxophone work, as well as the stonkin’ “All You Need” and wonderful swing-blues of “Shake That Thing”, showcasing those signature Cherry growls and tender vibratos, her band playing with dizzying dexterity, as if their lives depended on every bar. The 8 original cuts here include the hauntingly powerful “Dancing Like Diamonds”, and the heart-wrenching ballad, “It Means Nothing To Me” featuring Cherry’s raw vocals over simple piano and sparse guitar. There’s a stunning bonus track, “Something You Can’t Have” with Max's fluid guitar lines perfectly complimenting Cherry's impassioned vocals was a genuine showstopper - emotional without being overblown. The title track, “Southbound Train” may be the best song that Seasick Steve never wrote while “Western Star” and “Tried Everything” have that driving beat that can’t help get you hand clappin’ and foot stompin’.

With Southbound Train, Cherry gets to show what a tremendous blues singer she can be, drawing from the many elements she's secured from years on the stage, whether she’s getting her teeth into a real swing blues track or a sleazy after-midnight torch number.

"This is music I fall in love with on a daily basis!” concludes Cherry, “This album was all about a vibe and capturing that raw, stripped back sound that I love. My Southbound train took me on a trip I and I didn’t want a return ticket!”

Southbound Train will have you wanting to extend your trip and shows Cherry and her band at their soulful ripping best.