Ma Polaine + Ewan D. Rodgers at Upstairs at the Ritzy

Taking inspiration from the 1940's jazz of Billie Holiday, the delta blues of Howlin' Wolf, the genre sidestepping of Tom Waits, and with some good old-fashioned life experience, Ma Polaine’s Great Decline is a creative collection of songs that move from foot tapping abandon to subtle intensity. The lyrical tales are told with melodic invention and an emotive vocal, all backed by gritty blues harp, a horn section from somewhere between Stax and vaudeville, accordion, guitar, piano, double bass and drums. Ewan D. Rodgers lists British folk and blues players such as Davy Graham, Bert Jansch and Nic Jones as his main musical influences, however a closer listen to his music reveals influences from as far away as the Appalachian Mountains, the sheep-stations of New South Wales and the Shtetls of old Eastern Europe.