He started as a teenager in his brothers’ gospel group, The Bridges Brothers, before joining an Air Force band in Texas, followed by guitar and vocal stints in different gospel bands. It’s unsurprising, then, that a fair whack of these formative experiences has filtered into Bridges’ blues exploits, which if not exactly churchy, are frequently soul-tastic.
Hold On A Little Bit Longer is a loveable 15-track Sunday lunch of warm, soul-man blues – part Bill Withers, part swing band bop. In some ways like a more old-school, bluesy Vintage Trouble, he mixes soul with chipper early Stones rock’n’roll and nifty blues licks. There’s something cheerfully glitzy about it too, with big band bounciness in the likes Along The Navajo Trail that’s straight out of a glamorous Rat Pack night, and Take Me Back To Perth spelling out some of his globetrotting. Sweet, sweet and sweet.
