B.B. King recorded the slow blues jam How Blue Can You Get? live as part of a landmark concert for inmates at Cook County Jail, Chicago, in September 1970.
The first three minutes are a duelling solo between King on his Gibson guitar and Ron Levy on piano, before the brass section comes in, followed by the lyrics.
“I let you live in my penthouse; you said, ‘It was just a shack,’” King sings, before the punchline: “I gave you seven children, and now you wanna give ’em back!”
It’s both funny and sad; the journey is as much fun as the destination; and it’s all over way too soon.
It’s the song that turned Josh Teskey onto the joy of the blues.
“That was one of our earliest influences,” he says.
“It’s the way the band moves around B.B., and the fluidness of it all, the feeling behind it. It’s not mathematical at all. It’s really just feeling music, and B.B. being such an amazing singer with his guitar.
“It’s always just been that absolute, raw emotion in their vocals, and how they never did the same thing twice. I just love that about those singers.”
Josh is the lead singer and rhythm guitarist with the Teskey Brothers, inarguably Australia’s biggest blues-rock act.
Noted for his Otis Redding-like vocals, he and his younger brother Sam first picked up guitars as kids in rural Victoria, learning their craft busking, and keeping their day jobs as tradies for years after forming their band in 2008.
Concert audiences grew exponentially following the release of 2017 debut album Half Mile Harvest, and the Teskey Brothers topped the ARIA charts in 2020 with their Live At The Forum album in 2020, the first live album to do so for an Australian act since AC/DC.
COVID notwithstanding, they have toured Europe and the US constantly since 2017 – which is why their performance at the Blues on Broadbeach festival in May will be their debut there.
“It’s been a long time coming,” Teskey says. “We’re finally making it happen this year, for the festival’s 25th anniversary, which is really exciting.”
Blues on Broadbeach artistic director Mark Duckworth estimates he first tried to book the Teskey Brothers at least eight years ago.
“At the time they were an emerging act. And then they had to go overseas, and said, ‘Can we postpone till the following year?’ And they never came back, because the trajectory those guys went on was massive.”
The Teskeys will play a ticketed event in an otherwise free festival that takes over Broadbeach streets and parks, May 14-17 (Emma Donovan and Ash Grunwald are their support acts).
On the other end of the spectrum there’s legendary New Zealand-born guitarist Kevin Borich, whose band, Kevin Borich Express, is 50 years young.
Borich, who lives in the Sunshine Coast hinterland, has played with Bo Diddley, Joe Walsh and Carlos Santana. He’ll be playing what he estimates is his 20th Blues on Broadbeach.
“It’s one of my favourites, because it’s free, and you don’t have to wear your gumboots,” he says. “It can rain and that doesn’t matter, because it just goes down the gutter.
“It’s quite neat playing among the skyscrapers, and you look up and people are hanging out on the balconies. It’s a great vibe.”
Blues on Broadbeach began in 2002 with just two stages and 5000 attendees, conceived by Experience Gold Coast as a way of promoting visitation during the shoulder season.
“And now it covers about four blocks, and everyone gets involved, from the little cafes and restaurants and bars up to the major concert stages,” Duckworth says.
This year he expects more than 160,000 people to watch more than 60 local, national and international acts.
Someone guaranteed to be there is festival superfan “Big” Geoff Verey.
Verey first attended in 2005, and used to pack his car with chairs and drive up from Melbourne. Now 75, he’s flying up in 2026, and bringing his new walking stick with a seat attached.
“I consider it the best five-day party on Earth,” Verey says.
The fact it’s a free festival means Verey can spend more in local hotels, restaurants and bars. “The restaurants put seats and tables out in the street, so they’re benefiting.
“And it is a blues festival, not like that thing that’s just collapsed at Byron Bay [Bluesfest]. That stopped being a blues festival 20 years ago.”
A dyed-in-the-wool blues lover with a penchant for soul and rock, Verey recalls sitting outside a restaurant on Surf Parade with a group of friends and family in 2016 enjoying 1960s UK greats Eric Burdon and the Animals.
“One of my mates who was up there said, ‘this is one of the best days of my life’.”
This year he is looking forward to seeing Polynesian-Australian singer-songwriter Karen Lee Andrews; veteran Louisiana soul-blues performer Robert Finley; mind-blowing Hammond organ virtuoso Lachy Doley; and Texas singer-guitarist Ruthie Foster, among many others.
“And my daughter will want to see the Bamboos, so we’ll go to that,” he says.
Duckworth says the event is a world-class festival that retains a community feel.
“The whole city gets on board. It’s not a green-field site that’s fenced off, locals can just pass through it.
“That city-festival vibe gives us a point of difference, and I hope to see it continue for a long time.”
Blues on Broadbeach runs May 14-17. The Teskey Brothers play on Sunday, May 17. Kevin Borich Express plays May 14 and 16.
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Nick Dent is a Culture Reporter at Brisbane Times, covering arts and things to do in the city.Connect via email.
