Veteran Bluesmen Doc Maclean And Big Dave Mclean Team Up For 100-Date Canadian Tour

MONTREAL, Canada (Top40 Charts/ Doc Maclean Official Website) - Doc MacLean and Big Dave McLean are among the handful of Canadian artists who recreate the early roots of the blues, mixing their own material with the songs of the storied figures of the past - Robert Johnson, Son House, Blind Willie McTell and dozens of others.

They come by their music honestly: Doc MacLean traveled the south almost 30 years ago meeting many of his idols (and, with a young Colin Linden, produced and played on an album by the legendary veteran of 1930's jug band pioneer Sam Chatmon).Big Dave McLean, based in Winnipeg, was mentored by the late Muddy Waters, and took early lessons from John Hammond Jr.; he records for Edmonton-based roots music label Stony Plain and has three CDs in their catalogue.

The pair will start their Century Blues Tour on Wednesday Sept. 9 at Hugh's Room - and between that concert and a final date three months later in Peterborough on December 6, they'll play more than 100 shows in concert halls, festivals, coffee houses, pubs, clubs, private homes and radio stations.The tour takes them to nine provinces and two Northern Territories.

To commemorate the tour, MacLean and McLean are releasing a live CD, Big Road Blues. The limited pressing, recorded andproduced by Catherine McLelland for CBC Radio's Canada Live, will only be available at Century Blues Tour shows.

"We've done national tours like this before," says Doc MacLean, who booked all the dates on the tour himself, from his mobile "office" of laptop, cell phone and guitar case. "We know how to do it, our audience is waiting for this.

"Both of us play National steel-bodied guitars, and we play our music on a grass roots level; we keep the overhead low and the entertainment quality high. This classic Delta blues music always resonates, and we're looking forward to helping keep the blues alive across the country." In addition, the duo have partnered with music dealers Long & McQuade to offer free blues guitar workshops and master classes in major cities.