Tess Coleman - Blues Rock DJ

Tess Coleman

Hi. Thanks for checking out my web page. This is just my first attempt.

I'd like to tell you about my radio shows on BBB FM 89.1. BBB is in the old railway station at Tanunda in the Barossa Valley, South Australia. The Barossa Valley is famous for its wine. I've been in the area for seventeen years and have been involved with BBB FM for 6 years. BBB is a community station, one of many in South Australia. Our station has the highest ratings in our area and can be picked up in many areas of the city and country. I got involved with Triple B FM because I'm a music freak. I have a record and CD collection that goes back about 45 years, my first single being Green onions by Booker T and the MG's!!! I try to play music that doesn't normally get played much. I leave the popular stuff to the commercial stations! On Thursdays from 5-6 PM, I present "Blues and Rock at 5 O'Clock." Again most of the music I play is out of the mainstream. I try to include Australian blues nd blues/rock but also love bringing out my old British blues collection as I am originally from London and grew up listening to British bands like John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, Graham Bond, The Animals and the original Fleetwood Mac. In the early 80's I moved with my family to Australia and we've been here since but in the 90's I lived in California for a while. I like the old classics but also love discovering new bands. Artists that I feature regularly on the programme are the Fabulous Thunderbirds, Roomful of Blues, The John Earl Walker Band, Bondi Cigars, Duke Robillard, Ronnie Earl and Jimmie Vaughan. I like a bit of rock 'n roll too and also the Hammond organ. I've collected records featuring the Hammond ever since buying Green onions!!! Jimmy McGriff and Jack McDuff are my 2 favourite players but I also like Charles Earland, Jimmy Smith, John Patton and many others. I also like blues harp and am a big fan of the West coast players especially William Clarke. I also like the Chicago style harp and favourties are Junior Wells, Little Walter and Sonny Boy Williamson all of whom I've seen live. Once a month on Saturday nights I also host the blues programme. This one I call `Saturday night blues'. I try to mix it up a bit on this show and often play requests and have interviews. Because this programme is three hours long I can feature a broader range of music including some acoustic music. My other show at present is Tess's Brew which goes for an hour before Blues and rock at 5 O Clock. On this programme I explore some of the other music I enjoy like funk, soul, Americana, rockabilly and sometimes some world music Since I've been doing radio I have presented several different programmes. For a while I hosted an arts and entertainment programme and also a groovy jazz programme. All this keeps me very busy but I also manage a couple of bands. The Tony Luke Band are a local band led by guitarist Tony Luke who has been playing since the early 60's.

In July 2005 I met John Earl Walker, guitarist, vocalist and songwriter for the John Earl Walker Band. We immediately had a very good rapport and this has developed into a very close relationship. In March/April 2006 I visited John in New York and in July 2006 he visited me. Its very difficult having a distance relationship as we both have commitments and ties in our respective countries but we're hoping it will work out with time spent in each place. Soon I'm hoping to visit him again in the US and so I'll be taking some time out from BBB FM. When I'm not DJing I enjoy playing my flute and am a big movie fan. My latest venture has been to start my own online radio station Blues groove on Live 365 in February 2007. Maybe its not a good time to do this with roalty rates set to rise steeply but I hope that the US government will see sense over this issue! There are at least 200 stations playing blues so the competition is stiff but I feel that my collection is a bit different to most others as I've lived in England, America and Australia and followed the music scene in all three countries. My experience on local radio has helped me to put together a good playlist and know the music that listeners like to hear. I feel that my most successful programmes are where I mix in some classics with good new tunes and this is what I try to do on Blues groove so click on the link and tune in!!