The Windy City Strugglers are a New Zealand

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

band formed in Wellington in 1968. Their music is based on the singing, songwriting, and guitar playing of Bill Lake, and the vocals of Rick Bryant. Their long-serving band members are Andrew Delahunty on guitar,

harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica incl ...

and

mandolin A mandolin (, ; literally "small mandola") is a Chordophone, stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally Plucked string instrument, plucked with a plectrum, pick. It most commonly has four Course (music), courses of doubled St ...

and on

double bass The double bass (), also known as the upright bass, the acoustic bass, the bull fiddle, or simply the bass, is the largest and lowest-pitched string instrument, chordophone in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding rare additions ...

Nick Bollinger who has a career as writer, critic and broadcaster and head of Red Rocks Records, the band's label. Their music is a amalgam of mostly black

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

styles with a range of other historical and contemporary influences. Originally acoustic, the band now largely uses electric instruments. The group made its debut at the 1968 National Folk Festival when the line-up consisted only of Lake and Geoff Rashbrooke on piano and Mike Rashbrooke on

jug A jug is a type of container commonly used to hold and serve liquids, but not normally to drink from directly. It has an opening, sometimes narrow, from which to pour or drink, and has a handle, and usually a pouring lip. Jugs throughout histor ...

. Bryant, already a fixture on the Wellington R&B scene, joined soon after. Though numerous musicians passed through the ranks of the early Strugglers, the group has existed in more or less its current form since Delahunty and Bollinger joined in the mid-1970s. While Bryant and Lake also played in rock groups such as Mammal, the Pelicans, and the Jive Bombers, the Strugglers always existed as an entity in its own right, performing whenever busy schedules make it possible. In 1990 Bryant and Lake released ''We're in the Same Boat, Brother'', a cassette-only

album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

that included some Strugglers material. In 1994 the Strugglers released their own self-titled CD, which won Best Folk Album in the

New Zealand Music Awards The Aotearoa Music Awards (previously called the New Zealand Music Awards), conferred annually by Recorded Music NZ, honour outstanding artistic and technical achievements in the recording industry. The awards are among the most significant that ...

. In 1998 the Strugglers released their second CD, ''On Top of the World'', which also became a Music Awards winner. While the Strugglers' blues and jug-band influences have been documented on their previous albums, the 2001 ''Snow on the Desert Road'' consisted entirely of original songs by singers Bryant and Lake (in collaboration with songwriting partner Arthur Baysting).

Discography

References

Sources and external links

Band's web site"The Windy City Strugglers: A Lifetime in Music"
– by Trevor Reekie, for ''New Zealand Music Magazine''.
Blues artists in New Zealand documenting Rick Bryant, Jubilation, Windy City Strugglers and others
{{DEFAULTSORT:Windy City Strugglers, The Musical groups from Wellington City Blues musical groups