THERE is a rare chance to hear the sound of raw, unadulterated, authentic Louisiana blues with legendary Li’l Jimmy Reed, who is appearing in an Anglesey gig.

Li’l Jimmy is one of the last and original, great rhythm and blues musicians from the deep South. The blues was born out of a wild outcry against segregation, poverty and back-breaking work. Most of the great musicians who created this influential music have died.

However, one man, whose career stretches back to the time when rhythm ‘n’ blues was just bursting onto the popular music scene, is still with us and playing better than ever.

At 80, Leon Atkins, better known as Lil’ Jimmy Reed, is the “real deal.”

Li’l Jimmy is a tall charismatic figure who epitomises the classic Louisiana down-home blues tradition with stinging guitar work, gritty vocals and haunting harmonica.

On Monday, April 1, he will be at the Victoria Hotel in Menai Bridge. Born in the late nineteen-thirties, in shot-gun shack in Hardwood, LA, a small cotton and sawmill town on the Mississippi River, Leon grew up near a club where every night he absorbed the wail of the blues.

At six he had his own guitar, made from a cigar box, and by the time he was a teenager he was proficient on both guitar and harmonica, playing local clubs around Baton Rouge.

Filling-in one night for blues star Jimmy Reed earned him the sobriquet Li’l Jimmy Reed and started him on the long path to success. He has shared the stage with B. B. King and Bobby “ Blue” Bland and head-lined festivals around the world.

Veteran pianist Bob Hall and his wife, singer and bassist, Hilary Blythe, have joined forces with Li’l Jimmy to form The Li’l Jimmy Reed Band. At the Vic they will be joined by Owen Hughes on drums. Doors open 8pm. Tickets are from Palas Print Caernarfon and Mudshark Records Bangor.