NEW HARMONICA TUTOR GOES DOWN A STORM

Stuart ‘Son’ Maxwell, harmonica player and singer with rising British blues stars Storm Warning, has revealed some of the tricks of his trade in a tutor book. Son was commissioned to write The Complete Harmonica Player by the international music publishers Wise Publications, part of the Music Sales group.

Although the book features standard beginner’s tunes like Amazing Grace and When The Saints, there is a strong blues element to the course. Son Maxwell wrote five blues pieces specially for the book and the accompanying CD, including interpretations of the classic Fox Chase and a chugging Train Blues.

“I had been working with Music Sales for years,” he says, “providing the harmonica parts for their Play Guitar With… series of books and CDs. When the time came to revise the original Complete Harmonica Player, they saw it as a great opportunity to make the blues a big part of the course and gave me a call.”

Son has been playing harp for 25 years, solo and with his band Mr Charlie. He joined Storm Warning a year go and brought a stronger blues dimension to band’s sophisticated sound. They make their debuts at the Burnley, Colne and Upton festivals this year, following highly successful gigs around the South East, including support slots for Mick Abrahams, the Blue Bishops and American bluesman Russell Hitman Alexander.

Son Maxwell’s second book, for young beginners, is currently in production and features all original material. He is joined on the accompanying CD by Storm Warning, who provide the backing for four extended jam tracks. The band are also hard at work recording their debut CD, due out in May, when they tour in support of the Hitman Blues Band.

You can order The Complete Harmonica Player online at www.musicroom.com. For details of Storm Warning gigs and album news, go to www.stormwarning.co.uk.