Julio Vallejo

He was born in the same year that the Stones and the Beatles arrived in the United States for the first time to, among other things, pay tribute to the old bluesmen who at that time lived practically forgotten. In his case, it was a cousin passionate about African-American music who led him to perform blues, rock’n’roll or country folk, and he learned to play the guitar in his adolescence, when he was struck by what he calls “the cry of the blues”. The child who was made to sing and play the guitar at parties and family gatherings gave his first concert at eighteen, and he went on performing with the same enthusiasm and broadening his horizons. He lived, married and had a daughter in England, where he had many musical experiences, as well as in Chicago, where he shared a stage with his friend the pianist Barrelhouse Chuck. He applies all this experience to his teaching work, with talk-concerts on the history of the blues, a genre whose authenticity attracts him, the feeling that drives you to dance, to laugh or to cry. Along the way he has taken pleasure in learning from other musicians, discovering styles and wonderful people who share with him a musical passion and a goal: “Above all, having a really good time!”.