Young and committed to the blues. Young talent from Martha’s Vineyard.
Delanie Pickering (Concord, New Hampshire) is a twenty-something guitarist and singer who reclaims the blues styles originating in Chicago and Texas, combining them brilliantly with doses of swing and New Orleans rhythms. She is currently a member of the blues & roots band Johnny Hoy and the Bluefish, performs on her own at international festivals and plays in three other bands: Rosie’s Ritzy Revue, Black Eyed Susans and Outskirts.
Pickering first picked up a guitar at the age of 15 after discovering his love of the blues, and began learning to play on his own. By 18, he had performed at various festivals, clubs and blues challenges, mainly around the New Hampshire area, and had recorded the album ‘Down Not Home’.
In 2017 he moved to the island of Martha’s Vineyard, where he currently resides, in search of employment. There, her life changed forever when she met the members of the blues band Johnny Hoy and the Bluefish. Their brilliant veteran guitarist, Buck Shank, saw her as his heir in the band, handing her the baton after his retirement from the stage. Endowed with great versatility on the six strings and a warm, powerful voice, Delaney is one of the strongest young realities in American blues. Icey Baird, lead singer of the Black Eyed Susans, has said of her: ‘The amount of raw talent Delanie has is mind-blowing. You can tell she feels the blues in her soul’.
