Family Style have made many friends during their short tours of Britain in recent years. They are great guys, of course, but the secret of their success is phenomenal live playing. Their gigs are technical masterclasses and, just as importantly, joyous celebrations of a music they so clearly love – the natural blues. Whether performing distinctive and thoughtfully original material or sensitively interpreting the work of others, they reach out to their audiences who never fail to return the embrace by the end of the evening.

We first saw them at Nottingham’s Running Horse pub and were so captivated that we drove to Spalding a couple of nights later and watched contentedly as they cast their spell on a capacity crowd. Another tour brought them to Cleethorpes, where their headlining set at the Blues Club Festival quickly turned into a good old-fashioned ‘knees-up’. Guitarist Enrico Crivellaro - good to hear him on the bonus track, Franco’s exquisite version of Big Walter Horton’s “Easy” - was the more-than-capable replacement for an unavailable Marco on that occasion. But we were delighted to welcome back the elder Limido when he took his seat on stage for this gig. An injured leg meant he had to sit down but there was absolutely nothing sedate about his playing that night - as you will hear!

We are spoiled for marvellous music from Europe and the States at the Running Horse, thanks to owner Barry Middleton’s immaculate taste and firm policy of only booking the best. But I had no hesitation in naming the gig on this recording Best Of 2004 in my blues column for the Nottingham Post newspaper, alongside storming sets from Otis Grand and Lightnin’ Willie. And you can imagine my delight when Franco suggested I write these liner notes. It was a magical night and soundman Dave Stephenson has managed to capture that atmosphere, as well as the peerless performance of a band on tip-top form.

And so to the recording. It opens with the whomping boogie of “Lookin’ For A Woman”, a band original, and Franco’s cry of ‘Take me to Chicago, brother!’ just before the gritty sting of Marco’s guitar break kinda says it all – you could be sat nursing a shot of bourbon in some West Side bar. Hear the subtle enhancement both harp and guitar lend to each other’s solos, the drama added by a responsive backline and the warm audience rapport. This is followed by the Eddie Boyd “She’s Real”, a tough-as-nails fast shuffle delivered with an almost telepathic combination of laid-back looseness and explosive togetherness. And you can’t mistake the sincerity in Franco’s spoken intro to the next number - Peter Green’s “Looking For Somebody” - or help but notice the passion in those perfectly-executed heartbeat rhythms, dropping the audience into a profound silence. Marco’s keening guitar arpeggios are at once a homage to the master and entirely his own, and the exquisite interplay with Franco recalls Greeny’s talent on harp. “Diving Duck Blues” is a vehicle for Franco’s own harmonica mastery with Junior Wells style kiss pops, an echo of Jimmy Reed in the high register blow bends and hand effects recalling Sonny Boy Williamson II.

The first half ends with a triple whammy: the autobiographical “Pocketful of Nothing”, with Gigi showing his all-round percussive prowess; the New Orleans style rumba of “Get Rid of You”, its poetically-pained lyrics underscored by Davide’s resonant basslines and Marco’s ringing slide guitar; and then a stomping version of “Walking Blues”, the perfect marriage of bottleneck guitar and tough Chicago harp.

“Body Painter”, with its wry lyric, is suitably slow and sleazy apart from one uptempo gearshift, T-Bone Walker style. There are more changes of pace in the Freddy King style instrumental “Cannonball”, featuring sweet soloing with a delicious jagged edge from Marco. The band stretches out on the self-penned country rocker “Jack Daniels”, its tight ensemble ending giving way to the boogie of Rice Miller’s “Keep My Business” with some fluent acoustic harp. Franco gets everyone singing along on the anthemic “I Walk All Day”, a final reminder of the warm spirit in the room.

They played over twenty numbers that night and it must have been hard to choose the final selection. They have chosen well, though, and this CD gives you the essence of a great band doing what they do best – getting an audience on its feet and dancing the blues away. Oh yes, we were jumping around alright and so were our Italian friends on stage. A few snapshots for you - Franco jettisoning his leather jacket and holding the microphone out over the audience, Marco swaying on his seat lost in the music, Davide performing a Chuck Berryish duckwalk, Gigi hitting every single surface on his drumkit. You can’t beat live music, can you, and what better way for Family Style to celebrate their tenth anniversary than with this magnificent live recording? Gracie mille, fellahs!

Dave Kingsbury

The excellent Italian blues band Family Style - from the small town of Arluno, near Milan - made a first appearance at Alexander's as part of a short, four-date UK visit, and wowed the audience with a great night of varied music - from lovely swing tunes to slow blues, and even a jazzy feel on some numbers.

The band are fronted by the energetic Franco Limido on harmonica and vocals, with older brother Marco providing the fiery guitar work; cousin Davide Bianchi on bass and Gigi Biolcati on drums completing the quartet.

Two sets featured a mix of the band's own songs and some finely-interpreted covers - including Peter Green's "Looking for Somebody", which gave Marco Limido a chance to show off his fine guitar work; the Chicago shuffle of "Looking for a Woman", featuring strong harmonica work from Franco; and Robert Johnson's "Walking Blues", with lovely slide from Limido Senior.

Franco sat out a romp through Freddie King's "San-ho-Zay" as Marco fired off some tasty guitar licks - before returning to front possibly the highlight of the night - a run through Big Walter Horton's timeless "Easy" - his harmonica playing right on the button!

The band's own slow blues "The Body Painter" - about a tattoo artist - was another treat; with Franco demonstrating his own take on how to dance on the swinging "Crazy Legs" - indeed, his engaging personality is one of the band's attractions. -

Grahame Rhodes

These accomplished players made friends on their last visit to these shores and it was a pleasure to welcome them back in such sparkling form. The back line was as before, the solid and versatile Gigi Biolcati on drums and Davide Bianchi inventive and melodic on bass. Davide's cousin Franco Limido alternated passionate and compelling vocals with the finest harmonica playing I've heard in a while. His brother, superb guitarist Marco, was unfortunately unable to join them but Enrico Crivellaro was a fine replacement whose extensive US experience has given him the technical range a band of this calibre needs.

The guitarist's mastery of West Coast stylings particularly suited the jivey uptempo numbers and there were some stormers in the first half. An early highlight was "Brand New Blues", with its insistent funk rhythm and distinctive lyric. The excitingly hard-edged Chicago style "Divin' Duck" was followed by an infectious shuffle "Everytime You Smile" and the band dug really deep for the slow blues "Living, Loving, Drinking". We went to New Orleans via Bo Diddley for "Get Rid of You" with effectively gruff vocals, moving on to a groovy laid-back "Mellow Down Easy" and a real guitar workout on the original "Someone to Blues About". The second half touched all the bases too, kicking off with the finger-clicking cool of "My Baby She's Grand" and the jazzy bump of "Rollin' Over New Orleans", with its snare drum off-beats and scratchy guitar fills. Franco showed his harp mastery on Walter Horton's elegant "Easy" before the frantic "Crazy Legs", the majestic harp riff of "Prisoner of the Blues" and the autobiographical "Pocket Full of Nothing".

A hugely enjoyable evening - inspired stage clowning, exquisite pianissimo playing, great sound from Dave and Jim, audience chorals, the list goes on. Above all it was Franco's night - his articulate harp was of Paul Butterfield standard and he really communicated with his audience. I have to take issue with the review of their excellent CD "Walk" in Issue 23 and its rather fixated concern with accent and words. Many fine British performers sing "American" tinged with, say, estuary or Brummie and many US blues greats have an engagingly freewheeling lyrical approach. I like the variety to be found in the blues and I love the poetry of this band's lyrics and the sincerity and passion of their delivery.

Dave Kingsbury in Blues Matters Magazine 2004.

"Family Style" organised plenty of unrest amongst the audience at Penrith Live Blues. From the opening bars of their first number the crowd were unable to contain their zeal as Milan's finest led the vanguard in a rhythmic revolution that left feet tapping uncontrollably.

Fronted by brothers Franco and Marco Limido, the band were not afraid to let their roots show, Peter Green era Fleetwood Mac being their major influence. Franco, a very fine "Chicago style" harmonica player, shouted the blues in better English than most of us could muster, while Marco wrung atmospheric, echo-laden guitar licks from his black Fender.

"Big Boss Man", taken at a faster pace than its creator Jimmy Reed could ever manage, proved an ideal platform for Franco to show off his virtuoso harp playing. His higher register work provided a perfect cameo of Reed's own idiosyncratic harmonica style. Ringing the changes, the band now offered a note perfect version of Fleetwood Mac's "Albatross", the instrumental hit that has graced a thousand shopping malls. It was well received, but was never among my favourite blues' moments. "Family Style" chose to follow this with something much more to my taste, a storming version of Robert Johnson's "Walkin' Blues". Driven along by wild Elmore James style slide guitar, and underpinned by sledgehammer bass and drums, the number swung from start to finish. Bassist and drummer Gigi Biolcati and Davide Bianchi, were as solid at the back as Maldini and Baresi have been for their home-town team, and like those two stalwarts, were not averse to a little subtle artistry on occasions.

Blues harpist supreme Dr.Brown, who had earlier called in on his rounds, and had only succeeded in raising the temperatures of his audience, joined the band on stage for a workout near the end. As so often happens in "jams", the nervous energy created by the unplanned collaboration gave the music a vital spark, and the good Doctor played his best harp of the evening. The band topped that performance, however, a few moments later, when they played a superbly structured blues ballad that set out in Florence, en route for Milan, and somehow arrived in Memphis.

A few encores later, and the happy audience spilled out into the cold Cumbrian air, taking with them a little Italian sunshine!

Penrith Live Blues

There aren't all that many blues acts I'd see and then motor sixty miles to see again two days later.

There were the Nimmo Brothers performing as an acoustic duo and just recently fellow Scots, Reverend Doc and The Congregation. And now this wonderful Italian band comprising two masters of sonic tone and musical togetherness in Marco Limido (guitar) and his younger brother Franco Limido (vocal and harmonica) together with the talented back line, their cousin Davide Bianchi (bass) and Luigino Biolcati (drums).

This was Family Style's UK debut and right from the off you knew these guys were seriously good, performing with a confidence borne of talent and teamwork and communicating a joyous love of their material. There was bags of musical technique, though this never became "showy" as it was used to achieve a "whole band" sound across a wide range of blues stylings. Early on there were two impressive self-penned numbers: the groovy fast shuffle of "Every time you smile" with unexpected and delightful variations of pace and key and an uplifting lyric (".. a woman's kind of loving makes the world go round") and a magnificent slow blues called "Livin' Lovin' Drinkin'", which was played with authentic fire and feeling.

The band was also interesting to watch , quickly establishing a warm and genuine rapport with the audience and venturing into some accomplished rock theatre, as in the zany "Crazy Legs" where the bassist tried to swat an imaginary bee (buzz courtesy of the harmonica), after which the number built to a monster rock-out ending. There were a couple of numbers in tribute to Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac, the awesome lurch of " Drifting" perfectly captured here followed by an affecting version of "Need your love so bad", keeping the full spirit of these numbers while bringing lots of new and fresh touches. "Body painter", a humorous account of a visit to a tattoois, closed the first set.

After the break there was another effective original in "Pocket full of nothin'" and then a real treat for us harp fans, Jimmy Reed's "Big Boss Man" (great blow bends from Franco) and a fluent reading of Big Walter's "Easy". Other highlights included more Fleetwood Mac, an atmospheric "Albatross" and the plaintive "Looking for Somebody". Their version of Willie Dixon's "Mellow Down Easy" had everything: brilliant tempo shifts, plenty of boogie, licks wonderfully treated between guitar and harp, spot-on drum and bass solos.

Good for similar reasons was Eddie Boyd's "She's Real". Billy Branch's "Prisoner Of The Blues" was delivered with an intensity and conviction worthy its pro-music theme.

All this was warmly received by the audience. We saw a similarly rapturous response two days later at the excellent Red Lion Blues Club in Spalding, whose organizers deserve thanks foe setting up this mini-tour. Penrith and Oxford were the other lucky venues and I can only encourage promoters to get this lot back pronto!

They would grace the main stage of any major festival.

By Dave Kingsbury (Printed in Blues in Britain, November 2002)

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