Mississippi bluesman Steve Gardner is becoming a regular performer at craft beer festivals in Japan these days, having most recently played at Ikon Europub’s Kraft Zap party this past November, as well as monthly gigs at Babel Bayside Kitchen (Yokohama). A resident of Japan for many decades now, Gardner plays Delta blues, often characterized by a single performer singing and playing guitar in open tunings with a slide. Gardner learned the blues from some of the best, including his friend B.B. King! On his album Hesitation Blues, however, he receives lively back-up support from a range of traditional blues musicians playing spoons (yes, the kind you eat with), a washboard (yes, the antique ones you wash clothes with), a harp (that would be the harmonica in blues, not the big stringed instruments), a tuba and more. While decidedly a blues album, there are songs that draw from kindred traditions like zydeco, gospel, folk, Dixieland and jazz. Hesitation Blues has great variety, like the best breweries, and Gardner is the real thing like Real Ale!

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