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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