• WILEY REED TRIBUTE

    Though sadly Wiley Reed has now passed on to the big gig in the sky, it does not mean that the music will stop. Performing this Friday at the Goodna Jacaranda Festival in his honour is the Wiley Reed Tribute Band.

    The Wiley Reed Tribute Band, fronted by the legendary Doc Span and accompanied by special guests, Big Mama and Yasmin Rajah, will be performing some of Wiley’s greatest hits. The colabaration of these extremely talented musicians is a show not to be missed. Wiley’s legacy will not be lost!

    The legendary Doc Span is one of Wiley’s closest friends.

    Born in Hoboken, New Jersey, the young Doc entertained Dutch sailors at his Grandmothers saloon on the New York waterfront, playing the accordion.

    In the sixties he made Chicago his home and learned the harmonica at Blues Clubs like the Checkerboard Lounge and Ma Beas on the Westside, while working as a paramedic at the notorious Cook County Jail.

    After a stint in the Navy, in 1972 Doc hitchhiked through 12 Latin American countries jamming with the locals. His move back to Chicago found him playing with Willie Kent and the Beehives. The band featured blues figureheads Fenton Robinson, Johnnie Littlejohn and many others.

    Forming his own band, Two Fisted Blues, he made Santa Fe (New Mexico) his base for touring the Rockies to Alaska, playing hundreds of gigs at Rocky Mountain ski resorts. He also led a National Park trail crew, in the summers on the continental divide and played with the Summertime Blues Band at the Dew Drop Inn in Hungary Horse.

    Doc arrived in Australia in 1987 via a route filled with adventures. Here he has played with Oz blues luminaries like Andy Cowan, James T, Fiona Boyes, Ross Williams, Jan Preston, Lil’ Fi, and Kevin Borich. He’s played most major music festivals across Australia, thousands of live performances and dozens of recording sessions.