Review: Rag Mama Rag, The Bridge, Milford

I’VE attended the last eight Blues Nights at The Bridge in Milford and I have been consistently amazed by the quality of musicianship on show. Rag Mama Rag were no exception.

Glen Wright opened proceedings with a 40-minute set of truly authentic, acoustic, fingerstyle, Blues originals including Son House, Walter Davies and his own compositions. As with all the great blues players, bass, rhythm and lead were impossibly interwoven and natural mistakes occurred as the guitarist aimed for the cosmos. An excellent opening act.

Rag Mama Rag are a husband-and-wife affair. Ashley sings and plays the guitar – quite a few guitars actually – and keeps time by tapping his foot against a small suitcase, Debbie plays washboard with nails and spoons, a drum, beautiful harmonica and sings backing vocals.

The relative but touching bleakness of Robert Johnson’s Love in Vain was included but, for the most part, the set was gloriously upbeat. Audience participation was encouraged by joyous renditions of old blues classics such as Let it Shine by Blind Willie Johnson and Greasy Greens by Baby Tate and Pink Anderson – humorously introduced as a Pink Floyd song.

The guitar playing was wondrously clean and the percussion superbly rhythmic and original.

My personal highlights were Ry Cooder’s version of Jesus on the Mainline and a simply stunning cover of May You Never by the late, great John Martyn.

The inimitable compere, Bob Long – an extremely accomplished blues musician in his own right – will sadly be retiring at the end of 2025. If anyone is interested in taking over his legacy, contact Bob by emailing long.boblong@gmail.com

Next up at The Bridge is the legendary Papa George on 19th October – one not to be missed!

Ian Hey