Originally a bass player, he switched to guitar to start writing songs and began to develop his own unique brand of acoustic soul. Citing such influences as Bill Withers, Joni Mitchell, Paul Simon and Prince, Al draws his inspiration from a wide back-catalogue of strong songwriters. Each is highly individual in style but all have an unforgettable quality. Al's songs have a timeless magic and offer a theme for everyone on such subjects as life, love and even the Exorcist 3! With a strong soulful voice, Al has been making people sit up and take notice at gigs local (Ronnie Scotts) and international (The Orange Bar, New York City). The response has always been warm and often mildly surprised; the crowd almost expecting NOT to hear such maturely written songs and elegant guitar work, sung with a lived-in voice older than his 26 years. Al started performing his material solo but soon tired of "having to sit down all the time" and began seeking a band. He found bass player Dave Clarke and drummer/percussionist Beppa, both stalwarts of the Birmingham gigging circuit and The Al Hughes Band has been together since 2001. As a 3 piece, the "stripped-down-soul-sound" is as raw as it gets and provides a perfect showcase for Al's songs. However, recent recordings for Al's forthcoming album offer bubbling brass, funky Fender Rhodes keyboards (think Stevie Wonder) and groovy latin backbeats, which suggests there is a lot more than meets the eye to this fellow. Yes, it would be mighty unfair to describe Al Hughes as "just another guy with a guitar."

• Soul
• Acoustic