When Capt Bluetongue  of the renowned Pre War Acoustic Blues duo The Blues Preachers embarked on his new project it was a case of following his heart. The seasoned musician, who has performed at festivals all over Australia, including Byron Bay Bluesfest, the Woodford Folk Festival, the Blue Mountains Music Festival and the Gympie Muster, wrote a bunch of songs that felt like they needed a new home and so The Marvellous Hearts were born.

At first he thought he’d hire a few musicians to record the tracks and that would be it, but the more people heard about the project, the more they wanted to get on board. Now his ragtag crew includes George Rigatos on lead guitar & Andrew Hutchings on drums, and Paul Blasi on Bass guitar with Katherine Vavahea on BV’s & Carlyn Chen on Violin all established musicians in their own right. Their music is grounded in old school blues and traditional folk with flourishes of rock and cosmic country, with songs, which are too relevant today to be labelled as “retro revivalists”. And it’s a line-up that feels meant to be. In fact, George was supposed to be part of the original Hearts line-up but couldn’t due to heart surgery. But a successful operation and a few twists of fate meant he was back on board after all.

If his other band, The Blues Preachers evoked classic blues of the 1930s and ’40s, then The Marvellous Hearts take their starting point from the ’60s and ’70s. They’ve been compared to Bob Dylan and the Band and have been played across American & Europe & locally on Double J, and Triple J as well as community radio and the ABC.