DIAMOND Dac Charnley is a 100 per cent bluesman after a lifelong career with bands and as a solo performer.

Local people can see if he’s really “got these blues” when he performs at the Scartop Blues Festival on August 9.

He is one of 11 acts each playing for around an hour at the Moorlodge Country Retreat near Stanbury.

The event is organised by local man Ben Blue Waters, who will himself open the 11-hour show with a performance at noon.

Ben said Diamond Dac started his musical life as a fascinated child listening to the radio stations on his parents’ crystal set while playing a toy banjo.

He spent his teenage years starring in bands such as the Fugitives and the BobCats before embarking on an impressive solo career.

Ben said: “Recent years have seen Dac study the world of blues music with an obsessional passion, travelling anywhere and everywhere throughout Europe and the US.

“He has listened and learned directly from the old masters, including John Jackson, Louisiana Red, Philadelphia Jerry Ricks and John Cephas, and the great modern performers including Woody Mann, Mike Dowling, John Miller and Michael Messer.

“Diamond Dac’s recordings and live performances are constantly enhancing his reputation as he delivers memorable moments through his six-string and 12-string wooden guitars, banjo and his National steel resonator slide guitars.

“Dac’s album Got These Blues has been featured on European, Australian and American radio stations and he is in constant demand for festivals, concerts, gigs, workshops and private tuition.”

From a younger generation of the blues comes another Scartop performer, Yorkshire lad Bluesbeaten Redshaw who picked up his first guitar aged 11 and after a year of lessons was experimenting with more unusual instruments.

By 14 he was on the live music scene, playing local pubs and shows and amazing people with an unusual mix of blues and country with some punk and folk thrown in.

Scartop Blues Festival also features Alfie Steeleye Stocksman, Ged Wilson, L’il Ian Goodsman, Julian Socha, Gerry Cooper and Phil Snell.

Admission is free.