Struggle Buggy

Struggle Buggy

Struggle Buggy is an acoustic blues band featuring Lee Bates and Billy Newton, with Paul Summerson on bass and Keith Smith on drums. The group plays a mix of Delta blues, ragtime, hokum, jug band music and some Chicago blues.

Members and background

Lee Bates and Billy Newton have played together for 11 years and build a reputation on the British blues scene as a duo. Newton previously plays harmonica with the Scandalous Bachelors, an influential R&B band from the northeast of England. That group is later name-checked by The Hoax as one of their favourite bands. Summerson is the original bass player in the Scandalous Bachelors and is known for his energetic stage presence and bass playing. After leaving that band, he joins the acoustic folk/world music group Opas, where he plays a range of stringed instruments.

Keith Smith

Keith Smith is the drummer in Struggle Buggy. He has also played with Roadhouse, Speakeasy and the Fabulous Wildon Bros, and tours extensively in the UK with jazz trumpeter and broadcaster Digby Fairweather.