Derek Bright

Derek Bright was born in London, England in 1959. One morning in the early seventies, after finishing his paper rounds, he made the customary 8 mile walk from North London to the West End with a school friend. His destination was a small record store situated in one room above a shoe shop in Oxford Street. Flicking through the vinyl he pulled out one with a gatefold sleeve, and surprisingly few tracks for a double album. It was his first introduction to tracks credited to Ida Cox, Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters and Ray Charles. Walking out into Oxford Street with Humble Pie's 'Performance- Rockin' the Filmore' under his arm, Derek's pilgrimage to the blues had begun. Several decades later, by now a researcher, and founder of a business offering support for walkers following the trail from Winchester to Canterbury, he completed his first book "The Pilgrims' Way: Fact and Fiction of an ancient trackway" which explored the realities of travel on foot along the chalk trackways of southern England from prehistoric times, to the legacy of the romanticism of the Victorian and Edwardian writers. Derek has also conducted research for the Kent Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty; Creek Creative's presentation on the rise and fall of Faversham Abbey; Rural Strife in the hopfields of Kent; and the history of civil disturbances in the Faversham area associated with the Poor Law Reforms. "Highway 61:Crossroads on the Blues Highway" developed from Derek's continuing fascination with the blues, and between 2007 and 2013 Derek took three road trips down Highway 61 exploring the myths, and harsh realities, of the places and people from where the blues originated. Derek is never afraid of challenging expectations, and readers will find new and interesting insights in both books.