at Ronnie Scott's, Birmingham
I'd been kicking my heels waiting for the evening's main act to begin in the concert room when I stumbled into getting their gear together in the cafe bar which fronts Brum's newly cosmopolitan Broad Street. I didn't mean to see them but heck, what a neat find they are.

The guitarist swung it for me, talk of Peter Green at his prime and the joy of the Rory Gallagher reissues. Cancelling the other band in my head, I hang around to see if can deliver what they talk. They are so relaxed to the point of appearing almost disinterested - that it's very difficult to believe that this is their second ever gig. They are stripped down to an acoustic band for the evening - a couple of guitars, bass and drums with brushes - and the aforementioned guitarist pulling mouth harp and maracas out of his shopping bag to supplement on occasion.

 Willie Dixon/Led Zep's "Whole Lotta Love" is segued with Spirit's "I've Got a Line on You" and becomes a gorgeous, uptempo grooving blues, the delivery dry and sexy. The band's "Wild Man" is made for Peter Green at his prime; again it is full of space and guitar parts with melody and feel, the much extended middle-eight shaped by the shuffle of the maracas and the gentle swing of the bass. Now who says you can't take the blues and be inventive?

owe much to a few key players - some obviously British, some probably West Coast - but their heady mix and their delivery is something quite unique and really special. And that's what makes them the best new act I have seen in ages. Go find 'em people!