A veteran of the dobro blues guitar, (The Dobro was invented by Jozef Dopyera to amplify the guitar by means of a resonator before the advent of electrical amplification and subsequently became the instrument of choice amongst Bluesmen )  he left Australia for the life of Robert Johnson in his 20's, (30 years ago) with a 1933 Dobro earned from soul. His amazingly authentic picking style recalls the hard travelling' days of Johnson, Blind Lemon Jefferson and Mississippi John Hurt, in every note and timber, and steered his journey half way round the world from Newcastle Australia to find his soul mate, family and musical home in Newcastle UK. On visiting The Highlands with Martin Stephenson (long time collaborator and traveling partner) in the early 80's he set about finding new fans (and lost family) in Scotland, including regular returns for events like the Highland Festival, where in 1998 he headed up a steel guitar review called "Shining Like a National Steel Guitar". In the same year he was invited to take part in the Jozef Dopyera Festival in Slovakia to celebrate the Inventor of the Resonator Guitar and 90th anniversary of the innovative instrument. More recently he's become a regular and musician in residence at The Belladrum Festival in The Highlands.

Now a regular on a great many other profile European Festivals, in addition he is a musician and character of renown to many venues around the Toon and around the rest of the Blues community of the UK.

Gypsy Dave Smith says "I'm a long time fan of Paul Barrere's style and Little Feats songwriting, I got to open for Paul and Fred in Newcastle last year and jumped at the chance to play with them again and return to Scotland on this tour, I can't wait"

(if he's in town)

Gypsy Dave Smith can be found at The Jazz Cafe every thursday night http://www.viewnewcastle.co.uk/listings/jazz-cafe-listings-47229-0.html?utm_source=VenueSiteStats&utm_medium=internal&utm_campaign=VenueSiteStats