An excellent and very individual singer and guitarist with a truly personal sound. Very influential on his long time sidekick Big Joe Louis, with whom he once upon a time formed a mighty duo: The Roadmasters.Performs regularly with David Purdy & King David's Blues Trio: "The swingingest, grooviest most exotic leopard-skin blues guitar sounds around!". Matt Radford on standup bass and Brian Nevill on drums (both of Big Joe Louis fame).
Since 2000 (?) also guitarist in Little George Sueref & The Blue Stars.
Vanja & I met David Purdy on a memorable evening in London, Aug. '98 at the "Station Tavern":
"A dedicated and intense musician with a very obvious sense of humour, he took the stage dressed in everyday clothes, armed with a budget guitar whose body he had covered in black&white fur, plugged into an amp'n'speaker outfit of slightly home built appearance (part Vox, part Tandy's?) - and won us all over.
"Pony Blues" never sounded better. The reverb sounded like glistening chrome, his busy fingers played weird and beautiful stuff, the endings became outdrawn shivering romantic dramas. He sang with a timeless quality: haunting songs about how his baby left him, left him a mule to ride, about the chilly winds he prayed should stop blowing, about his pledging of "Baby Please Don't Go!". For last encore we got the eternal wisdom that 'you never miss the water until the well runs dry'. So true."
Recordings:
Cassette of 14 songs, recorded in 1997 with Big Joe's outfit as backup. Great stuff!
Links within our pages:
The full story of our own meeting with David Purdy in London, Aug. '98
A series of photos of the King David Trio performing at "Ain't Nothin' But..." in London, Nov. 10 2002 