Do you ever feel trapped? Hemmed in by petty laws that curtail your freedom. Or confined within the boundaries of convention, your creative spirit stifled, denied the oxygen that gives life to the fire of original thought? If so, you will know how Medicine Head‘s songwriter felt when he wrote Livin’ In A Bubble.

You can’t do this, you can’t do that.
Freedom is swept under the mat.

It’s a worthy theme for the blues.

Medicine Head was originally the duo of John Fiddler and Peter Hope-Evans. In spite of his name, Fiddler doesn’t play the violin; he’s a vocalist, guitarist, pianist and drummer. Hope-Evans contributed harmonica, Jew’s harp, guitar and mouthbow (which can be played by plucking the string or scraping it with a bow, like a violin). They released six albums of blues rock in the 1970s, finally folding in 1977.

Since then, Fiddler has revived the Medicine Head name for his solo work. He is still gigging and recording. This track-of-the-week is from the 2024 album, Heartwork, and it stays truthful to the Medicine Head name with some good old-fashioned, honest to goodness blues rock.

Curiosity Corner

Yesterday, my partner and I went to the cinema to see Dune: Part Two. Then, today, while searching online for a photo of Mr. Fiddler, this picture of two of the stars from the film came up:

Google only knows what the connection is between the musician and the film.