IF you have to earn the right to play the blues, Steve Darrington – organiser of this weekend’s Swanage Blues & Roots Festival has paid his dues in full.

After contracting polio at the age of six – just three months before the vaccine was made universally available in the UK – he was confined to a wheelchair. For most of the following decade he was lost and alone until, at the tender age of 15, he was found by the blues, started to play the piano and slowly clawed his way towards some kind of recovery. He still needs walking sticks and sometimes a mobility scooter to get about.

“I spent a whole year in hospital when I was six, lots more time having operations to help me walk and stuff, and I’m forever grateful to my parents for not putting me in a home, which was the norm for people in those days.”

He went on to play on some 50 albums and appeared with the likes of Mark Knopfler and Marty Wilde – he even played at Wembley Arena, supported by rock royalty Queen.

“I never set out to play with the Everly Brothers, Lonnie Donegan, or any of those wonderful blues, jazz and country stars I worked with. I just wanted to play music as well as I could, and they recognised that and wanted us to play together.

“In 1974 I recorded with Chris Jagger, brother of Rolling Stone Mick, at Rockfield Studios in Wales along with Peter Frampton, Dave Edmunds, Pick Withers, Micky Waller, Andy Bown and BJ Cole. I didn’t see Chris Jagger for the next 34 years until I went to one of his gigs a couple of years ago at Lulworth Castle. He recognised me and invited me to join him and Ben Waters on stage for a couple of songs – that’s show business!”

Steve Darrington’s life is one of bravery and brilliance. Now a resident of Swanage, Steve holds fond feelings towards the seaside town: “Ah, Swanage. I came here for two days in August 2000 and was so well received that I just never went back to Buckinghamshire.”

He’s been involved with the Blues Festival since March 2001 and, as the artists it attracts have become more prestigious each year, it’s now one of the major music events on the county’s calendar.

“The first Swanage Blues Festival started off as a birthday party for a local blues fan called George Crane,” Steve recollects.

“Most of the musicians that play here in Swanage are very well known elsewhere and command much higher fees than this little town can afford to pay. But what we offer is a fantastic experience of thousands of enthusiastic fans that are right there.”

From Friday until Sunday, some forty gigs will be played in 15 venues across Swanage, many of them completely free.

Highlights include accomplished musicians such as the Back Porch Band and Blue Touch across venues including The Anchor Inn and East Bar.

This year’s festival features a daily Open Mic Night as well as further entertainment from C Sharp Blues, Johnny Sharp and many other acts.

Steve is a ready advocate of the festival’s party ethos.

“You see, admission to the pubs, restaurants and hotel bars has to be free because any attempt to make entry charges would totally destroy the party atmosphere.”

Which bodes well for the festival’s future, since Steve intends to carry on organising it “for as long as I enjoy parties!”

Steve professes that the blues is spawned by feelings of “humour, joy and excitement – as well as those of sorrow” and is intriguingly sensitive to the reasons for the blues existing for a man who has spent his life in the music industry. It’s this charm and infectious enthusiasm for the Blues that is bound to result in a spectacular weekend of music.

Steve sums up his charismatic personality when asked about his own favourites.

“My musical favourites are too many to mention”, he jokes, before quoting Buddy Rich: “There are only two types of music – good and bad!”

Full festival details at swanage-blues.org