The Blues Man

Simon Redley’s review of The Blues Man for bluesandsoul.com

I’ve discovered this amazingly talented Little Walter-style blues harmonica player and songwriter, who with his guitar-playing partner, make the sweetest blues music you could hear in the UK. They busk at Marble Arch, play small club gigs in London and have now been signed to a major blues record label for an album and European tours. Introducing Mr Leon Anderson on blues harp………………

So when is Blues & Soul magazine going to feature Leon in its illustrious pages? When am I going to include Mr Anderson and his partner Gary in my regular blues column, “Simon Redley’s Bluesville” as ones to watch? The simple answer is; I am not. Why? I made ‘em up. The pair do not exist. I am telling porkies. Not unusual for a journalist, some may say, unkindly in this case. But in this case, it is not me who has a vivid imagination and dreamed up this Leon character and his musical mate. That my friends, is down to Londoner Robin Webster, now based in Somerset. The former blues singer and harmonica player has written his first self-published e-book, “The Blues Man." 16 chapters, 161 pages and 87,666 words. Very good it is too.

If you like gritty British crime fiction, vivid characters that come to life on the pages and a gripping plotline, well crafted by a talented writer with bags of potential, then this is for you. It’s got style, but it is not for the faint hearted. Drugs, guns, violence in bucket loads, sex, bad language, racism, police and political corruption, gang wars, murder, prostitution, blues music and betrayal……………it is all here writ large. Think "The Long Good Friday" meets "Kidulthood" and a flavour of "Reservoir Dogs."

Robin has English and Jamaican parents, spent most of his adult life in London where he was born, but now lives in the West Country with his wife. He used to work within the prison service, and based the characters on various people he met inside in his job. Witnessing gang members turning their lives around by focusing on a hidden talent, like playing an instrument or writing. Avoiding a return to a life of crime on their release.

He was also influenced by the early career and story of blues star Errol Linton, who has toured all over the world and appeared on TV and radio playing his harmonica, but still busks on the underground in London. Robin also studied the lives and careers of blues greats such as Little Walter and Howlin’ Wolf, who he says had an "undercurrent of violence" to their lives despite success as musicians.

The book tells the story of Leon Anderson, who spends a decade in jail for a drug deal shooting, and now busks on harmonica he learned to play in prison.He wants to leave a life of crime to focus on his music. He builds up a reputation on the London blues scene and eventually signs a record deal, with his partner Gary on guitar, and they land a European tour with a major blues act.
But a chance meeting with his former drug dealing partner, changes the course of his life in a dramatic and negative way. He hooks up with a woman he falls for, whose call girl sister is missing, and their joint search for her puts both their lives in grave danger. Actually, I don't want to say much more about the plot, in case I spoil it for you.

But there are many twists and turns, multiple layers of story telling and character building, all glued together nicely so it flows and doesn’t send your mind into tilt, to try to keep up.
I picked up the book on Friday and put it down the next night, reading it in two sessions. An author’s dream quote coming next, but I am sincere when I tell you: “I literally could not put it down and wanted to find out what happened next.”

Robin has the rare talent to paint a picture and put you the reader there in that “scene.” He writes with passion and emotion, graphic detail and builds his characters skilfully, so they are real and believable. He delves deeply into the murky and dirty world of drugs and those who profit from them. "The Blues Man" is the perfect letter of intent from a new, exciting British writer whose style ticks all the boxes for me as a supporter of British movies, a fan of crime and drama. Also as a professional writer of more than three decades, who recognises raw talent when he reads it.
This book would make a perfect screenplay for a low budget British crime movie or an "after the water shed," TV drama. (I have already decided which actor and actress plays which character!) I only have one tiny gripe, and that concerns the use of the word “brought” when it should be “bought,” which crops up many times in the book.

I do hear that Robin Webster has started his second novel. Happy to place my order now. Remember his name…..

Posted 11 Years Ago