Christine Collister & Dave Kelly
We’re always excited to have top-class talent at the Sound Lounge, and on 8th October we get to welcome two British artists who have been among the best of their profession for decades.
Christine Collister is the vocal stylist and singer-songwriter who moved The Times to say she had “a voice personally delivered by God.” Guitar maestro Dave Kelly was described by The Rocking Magpie as “a cornerstone of the original British blues scene.” Tonight, they’re back as a duo, in an acoustic setting, to conjure the magic that happens when they perform together.
Like many people, we’ve loved Christine all the way back to her emergence on the British folk scene of the 1980s, when her wonderful vocals were all over the small screen with ‘Warm Love Gone Cold’, the theme for the hit series The Life & Loves Of A She Devil. Then came her collaborations with such formidable talents as Clive Gregson, for five collaborative albums, and Richard Thompson, as a member of his touring band. Subsequent projects have included work with Iain Matthews, Loudon Wainwright III, the all-female group Daphne’s Flight, the vocal ensemble Hell Bent Heaven Bound, and a succession of distinguished solo albums, including 2024’s elegant Children of the Sea, inspired by folklore from her native Isle of Man, with a companion book.
Dave Kelly was, of course, a founder member of the Blues Band in 1979 with former Manfred Mann members Paul Jones and Tom McGuinness as well as Hughie Flint and Gary Fletcher. They released a prodigious 20-odd albums, drawing on Dave’s already vast experience as a guitarist backing Howlin’ Wolf and John Lee Hooker and playing with Buddy Guy, Son House & Muddy Waters. This is a man whose first performance was a floor spot at the Half Moon in Putney an incredible 62 years ago! He’s made another 18 albums either credited as solo or with his Dave Kelly Band, and in 2021, Repertoire Records paid tribute to his expansive career with the three-CD collection 40 Years On - A Recollection. Then in April 2025, Dave received a Lifetime Achievement award from the UK Blues Federation.
Christine and Dave first came together to record a session for Jones’ BBC Radio 2 blues show in 1994, and when a fan later gave Kelly a recording of it, he was prompted to call Collister and suggest some live dates. These double-headers have been an occasional delight since, in between their many other projects, and they’re reuniting in the autumn of 2026 for shows that reflect not only their love of classic rock, pop, country, jazz and blues but their infectious humour and stage presence. We can’t wait to see them grace the SL stage and we urge you to join us!
