I had the pleasure of seeing Chantel McGregor playing for the first time on Saturday and she impressed me greatly with her playing and her attitude. She was appearing in Edinburgh as support to Wishbone Ash. There was a decent crowd there when her bass player Alex Jeffrey and drummer Martin Rushworth took to the stage and started a recognisable grove. Chantel then appeared barefooted and started the recognisable riff of Hard To Cry Today. Her interpretation was not unlike Joe’s version of this song, but with enough variation to keep it from being a copy. Her guitar playing was superb and as a fine demonstration she followed up with Joe Satriani’s Up In The Sky. A playful version of Sonny Boy Williamson’s Help Me followed, Chantel pleasant vocals on the song made it an enjoyable number and despite needed to switch guitar due to a broken string half way through the song, she was unshaken and finished it strongly.
She followed this with a great version of Richie Kotzen’s High, which I’d heard him play just four night before (a twist of fate!), before she announced she would play a song by Stevie Ray Vaughan. The reaction to his name was muted, however the applause at the end of the song - Lenny - was overwhelming – she had played the track beautifully. Chantel liked to move near to the edge of the stage so that the crowd could get a close look at her immaculate playing. The final song she played with a great interpretation of Robin Trower’s Daydream which left the crowd very satisfied. No time for her version of Voodoo Chile, but no one was complaining. Indeed I saw her mouth “wow” to her father as she left the stage.
For the rest of the evening she received complements from members of the crowd and her highlight of the night, bar playing was an invite from Martin Turner to join him and the rest of Wishbone Ash at their forthcoming date in Wilbarston.
For those wondering, Chantel graduates in November - with a first and from that point on she will start to work on her debut album.
She is a very pleasant individual, very open and was happy to talk about her admiration for Joe and Richie Kotzen, her two favourites at present, and she also spoke warmly of how she enjoys playing with Jay Tamkin and her appearance on stage with Aynsley Lister at the Sheffield Boardwalk when she was only 15. Do make sure you see her live, and say hello to her afterwards. 
"The recently formed Edinburgh Blues Club has identified an appetite for the personal communication between musicians and audience that the blues long ago perfected." The Herald Newspaper (Scotland)
http://www.edinburgh-blues.uk
I take it it's at the village hall??
Only joking Luvvie.
