The band was originally formed in 2000 as Ted Crook and the Blues Highway by some of Wales leading bluesmen, coming from bands like the highly successful Blues Bunch, Crooked Line, and Pat Grover’s Blue Zeros. They gigged extensively across the country playing a mixture of Chicago and West Coast blues supporting bands like Eugene Hideaway Bridges and Big Joe Turner’s Memphis Blues Caravan along the way.
They ended 2000 by being voted Best Local Band by South Wales’ Blues Dragon blues club.
In 2002, due to unforseen circumstances, they split up but reformed in 2003 as The West Coast Sound. They gigged regularly for the next two years supporting the likes of Todd Sharpville and Otis Grand and also appearing at the 2003 Castlebar Blues Festival, this time playing more of the West Coast and Swing style blues that their audiences enjoyed.
Due to work and family commitments, the band took a break in 2006 but started playing again in 2007 under their original name, Ted Crook and the Blues Highway featuring a load of new songs and a new Bass player.
“Ted showed the way with his sweet harp in the style of Little Walter and “Tiny”, complete with his Epiphone Zephyr Blues Deluxe, the tone of which was absolutely outstanding (and also a copy of T Bone Walkers Gibson), was a revelation. The set listings show the Harp led style of this band and some of the material; covers of the great Big Joe Turner, Tampa Red, Big Bill Broonzy and Little Walter were authentic enough but the starring roll for me were the covers of the Fabulous Thunderbirds. Worthy of note was their own number “Southside Boogie” and Walkin’ Blues Featuring “Stiff” on vocals covering this Robert Johnson classic”.
“Ted’s version of Tough Enough could have been Kim Wilson!”
“Most of the crowd had first seen Ted and the boys last year at The Tenby Blues Festival, rating them as good if not better than some of the main stage acts”.
WHAT THEY SAID ON RADIO PEMBROKESHIRE 13th APRIL 2008...
“Arguably the best such band in Wales”
“They went down better than the headliners at the Tenby Blues Festival 2007”
“Ted Crook's Blues Highway got the crowd dancing immediately in the De Valence on the Saturday night”
“Check them out…they’re an awesome live band”
REVIEW FROM THE BOROUGH BLUES CLUB 2nd APRIL 2007...
“Here was a band who were striving to stay in touch with the roots of the blues; who selected their songs very carefully, mostly from the period between the 1920s and the 1940s, and delivered them in a style probably more in keeping with their original performance than the modern interpretations of many other bands.
The band structure was a little different from the ordinary too, with a harmonica Masterclass from leader Ted Crook who featured in many solos but was capably assisted by a clever and very tight back line of "Tiny" Phillips on guitar (so-called because of his massive frame and small hands), Gordon (Doc) Jones on drums and "Stiff" on bass (I never did manage to get his real name). Stiff was slight of stature with a polished head, glasses, ear-ring and powder blue check suit with white soled baseball boots - highly colourful and a clear contrast to the much larger and more subdued Tiny.
This four-some produced swing, shuffle, boogie and Latin rhythms with intricately interwoven backings. Ted Crook performed most of the vocals, occasionally joined or replaced competently by Doc or Stiff and it was evident that the words of the songs were very important to the group as well as the music. The clarity and delivery of the singing made it easily possible to understand the meaning and sentiment of the numbers the group played - which was refreshing.
Highlights from the first set were Lemonade and Can't Get That Stuff No More (Tampa Red, 1922). The group were not afraid to take it right down, allow the guitar to stand out and let the singer tell the story before launching into brilliant harp solos. Flip, Flop and Fly (Big Joe Turner); You're So Fine (Little Walter) and One Way Out (Sonny Boy Williamson) were well received by an appreciative audience. The set finished with Little Junior Parker's Mystery Train (which was also a hit for Elvis Presley); I Can Tell (Bo Diddley) and Blues Highway's own composition Southside Boogie.
Into the second half of the night's entertainment with the Fabulous Thunderbirds She's Tough; another Blues Highway song Hard Lovin' Woman and Little Walter's Can't Hold Out Much Longer which featured a superb duet introduction between Ted Crook and Tiny. The guitarist produced intricate little fills and runs which passed almost un-noticed in Big Bill Broonzy's Too Many Drivers and drew an extended ovation for the intro and solo in Outskirts Of Town.
The band, though not of a heavy or hard rocking blues persuasion, had a sensitivity and feel which brought loud audience demands for encores as the evening drew to a close with Robert Johnson's New Walking Blues; and Juke "Boy" Bonner's I'm Not Jiving.
Just my opinion, but this was one of the top blues groups to appear at the Borough Blues Club and I'm sure they will make a return visit in the future. If you missed them this time it would be good to catch up with them then!”
