Whiskey River - Blues from the Bayous

​From an acoustic duo to a six piece rocking electric band - a band for every occasion

Whiskey River play Americana - Cajun, Zydeco, Good Country and Low Down Dirty Blues with a dangerous edge. With many years experience of performing, these guys deliver the goods whether in full electric or acoustic mode. Small venues and  budgets can be catered for by the two founder members Martin Blake & Aidan Sheehan [click on each of their names for more details] as an acoustic duo "The Whiskey River Boys", whereas larger venues and pockets could go for an acoustic trio/quartet or move into the realms of bass, drums and electric instrumentation with the 5 or 6 piece.

The current band was born after founder members Martin and Aidan went to Louisiana in 2003 and visited a fabulous funky dance hall called "Whiskey River Landing", built on the edge of the Atchafalaya swamp, South of Breaux Bridge. They had a fantastic Sunday afternoon there and got to thinking that Whiskey River might be a good name for a band. About a week later, a guy in a bar in Houston Texas heard them talking over a beer at the bar ["Hey, are you guys from New England?" - "Nope, we're from Old England!"] and then gave them a plectrum with "Whiskey River" written on it. This was taken as "a definite sign" and the band they were working with back in the UK was renamed on their return.
"We've had many great evenings at the Redcatch Club, but I felt that The Whiskey River Boys were perhaps the best ever. Superb musicianship and singing, excellent variety, stylistically innovative and not least, great fun. High expectations were met in full" - Trevor Carter, The Redcatch Club, Bristol, October 2021
Whiskey River Perform "Iko Iko" & "Li'l Liza Jane" at "Lundi Gras"  Nuits Cajun & Zydeco,  Saulieu, Burgundy, France, 2012
Follow us on Facebook: facebook.com/whiskeyriveruk
The Whiskey River Acoustic Quartet performing The Delmore Brothers classic number "Freight Train Boogie" at Three Cocks Garden Centre Cider Festival, October 2017
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Whiskey River strutting their stuff at Ameland Cajun & Zydeco Festival, Holland, 2008
From the album "Hot Sauce", Whiskey River's take on a brace of Leadbelly songs about cotton....
Whiskey River [full 6 piece] perform the classic Leiber & Stoller song "Love Potion Number Nine" from their 2011 album "Hot Sauce"
Check out loads more audio and video on the Sound & Vision page!
Meet the Band!
Sadly, on 24th July 2019, Whiskey River's fabulous fiery fiddle player, Mr Dave Wood, was lost to cancer. He was a mainstay of the band, had been a friend and colleague for over 30 years and is very sorely missed. However, the band has  recently added the immeasurable talents of  master fiddler Alan Cooper. His great affinity with the Celtic tradition and artful execution of his craft will be sure to add a few different flavours to the band and we look forward to working closely with him in the foreseeable future.
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Alan Cooper
Personnel:  Aidan Sheehan - Vocals, Accordion, Mandolin, Harmonica, Penny Whistle, Percussion, Kitchen Sink; Martin Blake - Vocals, Electric & Acoustic Guitar & Banjo [​see Martin's website]; Dennis Schiavon - Vocals, Electric & Double Bass; Ted Bunting - Saxophones, Flute;   Alan Cooper - Fiddle; Pedro Brown - Drums;