Schedule
schedule announcement coming march 2026
We just love staging the Blues Challenge for any number of reasons, but the best part is having the previous year’s winner join us for the festival in another 12 months. Such is the case with our 2025 winner, Australia’s Nigel Wearne. He wowed the judges with his inventive playing, smoky backroom vocals, and creative arrangements. And his sartorial prowess is just the icing on the cake. He looks like the cool cat he is. With influences that range from Tom Waits to Nick Cave to Rickie Lee Jones, Nigel draws from a deep well. He's a poet with a guitar and is unafraid to bring jazzy inflections, orchestral grandeur and homespun country blues into his work. There’s an aura of mystery to the blues. Nigel Wearne’s music speaks to those misted places, shining light into dusty corners and ancient memory. Welcome back, sir.