WINTER BLUES AT BRUNSWICK BALLROOM 2026

In order to help promote July’s fabulous annual Echuca-Moama Winter Blues Festival, the promoter’s have come up with a tradition of celebrating the event with a festival preview show at Brunswick Ballroom. It acts as a bit of a festival fund-booster too. We attended last year’s Winter Blues in Brunswick and had a wonderful time experiencing Bill Barber and The Holding Cell, Kathleen Halloran, Lloyd Spiegel, Brett Wood, plus Ingrid and The Ministers in action. For the Winter Blues launch night this year at the Brunswick Ballroom, the lineup included a stellar bill consisting of Australian blues and roots talent — Jeff Lang & Danny McKenna, Sammy Owen Blues Band, Anna Scionti and Otis Namrell Band .

Local blues community jewel, Anna Scionti pulled up a stool in the spotlight and kicked off the night with an energetic set of heartfelt, raw, slide-based blues. Opening with Faker from her current album Sparrow & The Fox, the crowd sat mesmerised by Anna’s command of her cigar box guitars.

One of the admirable features of the Echuca-Moama Winter Blues Festival is that they promote new talent to keep the quality lineage going and and this year’s freshies were the Otis Namrell Band. Seemingly arriving straight out of the 70’s, Otis and band proceeded to jam their way through a vibrant set, channeling guitar greats like the Allman Brothers and Santana, even delivering a lively version of Black Magic Women.

Jeff Lang then set up his lap steel guitar surrounded by an array of pedals and various other effect devices, while Danny McKenna sat patiently behind the drum kit. Jeff has always amazed me the way he blends celtic and middle eastern sounds with slide guitar blues and full on rock. His nimble fingers navigating the lap steel’s strings is something to behold. Last night there was an astonishing chemistry between Lang and McKenna. Danny sat, listened and contributed exactly what the moment required, one minute complementing Jeff’s licks with a subtle cymbal splash or rimshot, the next powering the music along further with his energetic beats. Beginning with a locomotive drum roll, McKenna led Jeff into Lubbock Texas from the 2005 studio album You Have to Dig Deep to Bury Daddy, which ended in a manic fingerpicking frenzy. Lang and McKenna provided a grade A lesson in virtuosic musicianship and inventive improvisation. At one point they turned a simple guitar noodle (featuring a brief Beatles’ Daytripper motif) into an ever-building jam, including a psychedelic side note, completed with a powerful, rhythmic storm. It was like the musical form of an intricate wrestling move, pinning us all down in the end and forcing us to surrender to it. As Lang told me afterwards and I fully agree, he and Danny went places they weren’t expecting. That’s the beauty of exceptional musicianship, it can take you anywhere. Jeff Lang will team up with Dom Turner for his Winter Blues Festival appearance in July.

If I was a performing musician I’d never want to follow Jeff Lang, so it was up to Sammy Owen’s Blues Band to dig in and deliver something special … and they did! In the tradition of some the world’s most rockin’ party bands, Sammy Owen and co are as mean and tight as you can get from hundreds of hours of active stage time. They’re a little bit Destroyers, a pinch of Double Trouble, with a dash of classic retro rock ’n’ roll. The SOB’s dusted off the cobwebs and eased into their night with a tasteful country rock swing. Following up with a more soulful number, Owen showcased his slick licks and clarity of tone. Meanwhile the band provided a solid background for Sammy to deliver his delicate fretboard fingerings. Bass player Dorian Johnson took the lead mic on Al Green’s Take Me To the River, then next up Nasty Habits exhibited the SOB’s impressive funk chops. Local sax legend Louis Van Copenhagen was ever-present, front and centre driving the vehicle forward, with the assistance of Jesse “The Animal” Bates. Man, he hits those heads hard! All the while Tommy, sitting at the back of the stage behind his Nord keyboard provided constant quality piano and organ sounds. As the night progressed, the band’s temperature rose and offered up some smokin’ blues rock, with Sammy and Louis making occasional forays off the stage and into the crowd to ramp it up even more. A ‘ZZ Top-ified’ version of the immortal One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer was a highlight for many blues aficionados in the audience. They came to entertain and their goal was well and truly achieved.

There was a great variety of top class, blues and roots music offered up at the Winter Blues at Brunswick Ballroom last night but it was merely a trickle, compared to the near-50 acts that will be playing at the official Echuca Moana Winter Blues Festival from July 23-26.

Winter Blues Festival 2026
Echuca-Moama
23-26 July, 2026

2026 First Artist Announcement
19 Twenty
Cam Walter Blues
Cass Eager
Eddy and the Exciters
Elly Poletti
Frank Sultana Blues Band
Geoff Achison and The Souldiggers
The Honey Badgers
Jack and The Axes
Jesse Redwing
Jesse Valach & The Testaments
Kathleen Halloran
Liza Ohlback & The Mercy Train
Nathan Cavaleri
Oscar LaDell
Otis Namrell Band
Ray Beadle
Sam Buckley Band
Sammy Owen Blues Band
Sweet Felicia and The Honeytones

Second Artist Announcement
Amin & Lachlan Duo
Anna Scionti
Bek Jensen
Brett Wood
Charlie Bedford
Corey Legge & The Legacy
Greg Nunan & The General Jacksons
Jeff Lang & Dom Turner
Jimi Hocking’s Blues Machine
LilG
Michael Vdelli and the Art of Dysfunction
Nick Charles
Pete Campbell & The Lazy Dog
Phil Coyne and The Wayward Aces
Phil Para
Rory Phillips
Salt & Steel
The McNaMarr Project
White Lightning