MUSIC fans are in for a treat this week with two successive nights of live music at The Barn at the Square and Compass at Windmill Hill near Ashill.

Tonight (Thursday) brings Luka Bloom, brother of Irish folk legend Christy Moore, while tomorrow (Saturday) Blues Band guitarist Dave Kelly appears with his All Star Band.

The summer of love in 1969 was the first time Luka Bloom (known then by his birth name Barry Moore) took to the stage to support his older brother and renowned Irish singer Christy Moore.

Since then he has been bringing his unique, passionate sound to indigenous and international audiences on stages from the United States to Australia, and through every venue imaginable in his native Ireland (in turf bogs, record stores, up on a bike and on protest sites), in Belgium, Germany, Switzerland and Holland playing atop mountains, cycling onto stage and even supporting The Dalai Lama in 2011 in Australia.

He moved from Ireland, first to Holland and then to Washington DC and New York City, USA and his song changed somewhat to a new sound for the Irish Emigrant as the sense of displacement in his lyrics mingled with a positive delight to be exploring the world outside the boundaries of Ireland.

On his way to New York in 1987 he decided to embrace fully the change of leaving the home land and became officially for the first time Luka (from Suzanne Vega’s song of the same name) Bloom (Joyce's great Dubliner from Ulysses).

With a poet's heart and a rockster's soul, Luka Bloom is regarded as one of Ireland's best-respected contemporary folk artists, having produced 20 albums since the 1970s.

Tickets are £15 in advance on 01823-480467 on £18 on the door, and the music starts at 9pm.

Dave Kelly’s All Star Band tomorrow (Friday) features Dave’s youngest son and Christine Collister bassist Homer Kelly-Tarrant, former McGuiness Flint keyboard player Lou Stonebridge, eldest son drummer Sam Kelly (Blues Band, Circulus) Pete Emery on guitar (Jo Anne Kelly/John Dummer) and of course one of Britain’s very best slide guitarists, Dave Kelly himself (The Blues Band/John Dummer/DKB/John Lee Hooker etc).

If there is such a thing as a British ‘blues pedigree’ then Dave Kelly sets the standard. Kelly is a blues craftsman – a journeyman who has served his time with the best. In New York he jammed with Muddy Waters.

He became a friend to Howlin’ Wolf and John Lee Hooker, who both felt the benefit of Dave’s playing in their touring bands. It was Dave’s big sister, the late Jo-Ann Kelly, who first opened his ears to the blues, although his passion for rock and roll – and especially the work of Buddy Holly – remains intact.

In 1967 he joined The John Dummer Blues Band and after three albums and a solo project he continued to polish his style and technique throughout an adventurous career with some of Britain’s finest players.

When The Blues Band was formed in 1979, the post of slide guitarist and joint vocalist was a foregone conclusion – and bringing his friend, the bassist Gary Fletcher, along to that first rehearsal, was a bonus.

Dave Kelly’s guitar and vocals form the very backbone of The Blues Band’s distinctive sound.

Today, after 31 years with the band, with his solo albums, duo tours with Paul Jones, and soundtrack work (for commercials and such projects as BBC TV’s ‘King of the Ghetto’ and the Comic Strip’s ‘Strike!’) Dave Kelly is firmly established as Europe’s premier blues performer.

Tickets are £12.50 in advance on 01823-480467 on £15 on the door, and the music starts at 9pm.

Tickets for these events are also available online from wegottickets.com/event/283791 or mojopromo.co.uk or in person from Black Cat Records in Taunton.