Performing at Southern Blues Festival 2010

What started out modestly in the Narooma Basketball shed in 1996 has grown, 15 years down the line, into a splendid, greatly anticipated gathering at brand-new venue Mackay Park in Batemans Bay — and the 2010 lineup is split between venerable visitors and homegrown heroes. There's something distinctly mystical about the work of well-travelled Canadian bluesman Harry Manx ("Don't Forget to Miss Me"), who heads up our selection from the roster alongside the legendary man-for-all-musical-seasons Todd Rundgren ("Afraid"), who these days is channelling his love of Robert Johnson, rather than revisiting the "Bang on the Drum All Day" novelty phase of his pop life. Wollongong's Whose Muddy Shoes syphon the essence of hi-grade Chicago blues with "Gasoline," Blue Shaddy come up with a sturdy handful of roots on "Bury My Ghost," and Wangaratta-raised Dallas Frasca sets fire to the swamp with "I Like You Better When You're Straight."