Blues Train concert series celebrates women in blues

ESTABLISHED in 1994, The Blues Train is Australia’s longest running contemporary blues and roots music venue.

Based on the Bellarine Heritage Railway, The Blues Train has an enviable reputation for presenting the very best of Australia’s contemporary blues and roots artists.

Their newly curated Women In Blues concert series launched in November over the festival weekend, with the special series featuring emerging and established female contemporary blues and roots artists integrated into the main event line-ups to be delivered over seven Blues Train events during April and May 2024.

The Women in Blues Concert Series will feature many regular Blues Train artists, a selection of the regular female artists, as well as introducing and championing up and coming female artists to the blues and roots music industry, such as:

• Ocean Grove-based family band The Von Robertsons
• Award-winning Andrea Marr from The McNamarr Project
• Multi-instrumentalist and guitar virtuoso Anna Scionti
• Established Melbourne-based band Nardia
• Emerging Melbourne-based band Kaliopi & The Blues Messengers
• Solo Melbourne artist Iseula
• Legendary blues artist Kelly Auty
• Emerging local duo Miss Lou’s Blues
• Laurel & The Painkillers, a fast-paced electric blues band
• Original bluesy-rock powerhouse band Stonetrain
• Returning swampy blues band Snake Eyed Rollers

The Blues Train provides a live music experience to more than 7,000 patrons annually, showcasing the best of Australian contemporary blues and roots artists.

It operates 30-35 events from October to May each year, with founder Hugo T. Armstrong hand-picking up to 10 musicians per event, employing and promoting upwards of 300 Australian contemporary blues and roots artists annually.

Each night, The Blues Train patrons will see a solo artist, a duo, a trio, and a full band, as they swap carriages throughout the evening experiencing four completely different interpretations and styles of blues and roots music. On arrival, present your ticket, grab a drink and a delicious dinner will be rolled out to ensure you’re well and truly ready for the onboard entertainment.

It’s then time to jump aboard the historical carriages and sit back as the rolling vistas of the Bellarine Peninsula pass on by and the entertainment begins.

Whether you choose to chat to friends, sing along to the beat or dance like there’s no tomorrow, the choice is yours, but the Blues Train promises to deliver an overall experience like no other and once is definitely not enough, so get on board and shake, rattle and roll.

For all coming shows and who’s playing, head to thebluestrain.com.au