Geoff Achison started playing guitar at 13 and was inspired by John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers, particularly Eric Clapton’s raw sound.
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Geoff Achison has been playing guitar since he was 13, starting out in his father’s dance band before discovering the music that would define his career.
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“Music was a big smorgasbord that I was discovering all this different stuff,” he said.
The turning point came when someone played a record at a gig during a break.
“They put this record on; it was John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers,” Geoff said.
“I just flipped on the sound of Eric Clapton's guitar, which was very raw.
“I decided within the first four bars that is what I want to do.”
That discovery sent him deep into the history of the blues.
He traced the music back through BB King, Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf and eventually to the Mississippi Delta players such as Robert Johnson and Son House.
“I was almost like a little hermit, where I refused to listen to any other form of music,” he said.
“I immersed myself in it, probably for a good 10 years, just to really try to understand it and speak the language.”
His first trip to the United States came in 1993.
“It was like a pilgrimage,” he said.
“We were all crazy about American blues music and really wanted to see it up close in its natural habitat.”
During that trip, friends encouraged him to sit in at clubs, and the group won a talent competition at a Memphis blues club.
He returned in 1995, then again in 1997, and from that point on began touring the US, the UK and Europe every year until 2019.
Geoff is a celebrated figure at the Echuca Moama Winter Blues Festival, having been involved since its early days.
“I've seen it grow from a fledgling sort of idea where we all had to bring our own PA systems the first couple of years, because there was simply no budget for that,” he said.
“Seeing it grow from that to what it is now has been really, really gratifying.”
Geoff Achison tells a story during his performance at Hopwood Gardens at the 2023 Echuca-Moama Winter Blues Festival
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This year, he is bringing the Soul Diggers and performing a solo acoustic show at the Campaspe library.
“The library is really a listening environment and perfect for sitting there with the acoustic guitar and playing some tunes and telling some stories,” he said.
“Whereas the Soul Diggers, we turn up and rock out, so that is a very different vibe.”
He also encouraged festival-goers to catch fellow performers Kathleen Halloran, Ray Beadle and Eddie and the Exciters.
Geoff Achison and The Souldiggers brought the Caledonian Hotel alive at the 2024 Echuca-Moama Winter Blues Festival.
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McPherson Media Group
“Ray is one of those players; if you haven't seen him before, you absolutely must, as he is one of the best guitar players on the planet,” he said.
After three decades of playing almost exclusively his own material, Geoff said he was now embracing a broader range of projects, including playing lead guitar for a band called Stars, the Blues Guitar Road Show and an Ormond Brothers band show.
“It is almost like every week is a different repertoire to learn,” he said.
“Initially, I was quite daunted by that, because I’d only ever played my music for three decades, so I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to do it.
“But now, I’m just loving it; if there is a set of tunes I need to learn, I’m like, bring it on.”
Geoff Achison will play a solo show at the Echuca library on Sunday, July 26 at 2pm, as part of the 2026 Echuca-Moama Winter Blues Festival.
For those who want to ‘rock out’ at the 2026 Echuca-Moama Winter Blues Festival you will find Geoff Achison playing with the Soul Diggers on Saturday, July 25 at the Dungula Events Centre at 6pm and Sunday, July 26 at the American Hotel at 5pm
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