KEIGHLEY Blues Club will tomorrow host a performance by Finland’s Queen of the Slide Guitar.

Erja Lyytinen headlines the club’s latest concert at the Cougar Park Hall of Fame as she tours to promote her latest album.

The Sky Is Crying is described as a timely homage to the great Mississippi slide guitarist Elmore James.

Erja’s website states: “Think about the history of slide guitar players and Blind Willie McTell, Robert Johnson, Fred McDowell and Son House immediately come to mind.

“Think electric blues and you can trace a 50-year lineage from the death of the great Elmore James to Erja Lyytinen.”

For her tenth album Erja, regarded as a ground-breaking artist, has gone back to her blues roots.

She described the disc as a “raw and down to earth blues album”, co-produced with her guitarist Davide Floreno and musical director Mike Hightower.

A spokesman said: “The Sky Is Crying showcases Erja’s incendiary playing and passionate vocals with her rock solid tour band, with additional contributions from a superb on section and special guests.”

Erja was born in Kuopio, a small town in central Finland, and was raised by a musically-oriented family on the sounds of Led Zeppelin, the Beatles and Deep Purple, while also listening to Madonna and Michael Jackson.

She signed her first record deal in 2001 and has been gigging professionally for more than a decade. She graduated from the prestigious Helsinki Sibelius Academy in 2010.

A spokesman for Keighley Blues Club said Erja’s concert was an example of how strong the line-up was for the club’s current 10th anniversary season.

He said: “We have cast our net far and wide in order to capture the very best the blues world can offer.

“We have booked acts from Finland, France, the USA and of course the UK. Standout gigs include the Hitman Blues Band and the New York City Horns – all seven of them – on October 24.

“Our 10th anniversary concert itself will feature The Blues Band, the UK’s most successful blues band of the last 35 years, on April 10 next year.”

Visit keighleybluesclub.net or email bbj 21@btinternet.com for details of how to book tickets.