This week we speak to award winning blues prodigy Bill Barber.<\/p>\n
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What motivated you to become a musician? <\/strong><\/p>\n To be honest, that was never really a conscious decision. My dad pretty much exclusively listened to blues in the house, so it took a while for me to realise that any other kind of music existed.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve been playing guitar for as long as I can remember but it didn\u2019t really turn into a real potential life path till I hit my teens.<\/p>\n I\u2019m the kind of person who gets obsessed with things I\u2019m passionate about. I\u2019m lucky this one never left.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Can you describe your musical style? How did you develop it? <\/strong><\/p>\n As a kid I was fixated on blues, especially country and delta blues. It was kind of sheltering in a strange way. I played nothing but songs that I learnt from mentors and blues standards at my gigs till I was about 17.<\/p>\n After that, the internet helped me discover a lot of different styles and genres of music and I got hooked on enough of them to try my hand.<\/p>\n Around that time I started playing electric guitar a whole lot more – I\u2019d never really paid attention to electric up to that point.<\/p>\n Starting a band also helped me branch out a lot.<\/p>\n These days I put it somewhere in the middle of blues, soul, rock and country.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Why did you choose the guitar as your principal instrument? <\/strong><\/p>\n Guitar was the only instrument apart from the harmonica that I was ever really taken by. I don\u2019t do well understanding nuances and details of situations unless it\u2019s with music.<\/p>\n A guitar solo was the first thing I could understand that I didn\u2019t have to worry that it didn\u2019t mean what it was saying, or there wasn’t any kind of cue I wasn\u2019t picking up on.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Which musicians inspire you and why? <\/strong><\/p>\n Everyone I\u2019ve heard play has inspired me or taught me in some way. Pretty much everything creative I\u2019ve done and every lesson I\u2019ve learnt musically I have the Victorian blues scene to thank.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a small but extremely tight knit and supportive community. People like Chris Wilson, Geoff Achison, Lloyd Spiegel, Fiona Boyes and Chain were all giants to me as a kid and absolutely still are.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n