Jimmy Bowskill is the real deal. At the age of 11, Bowskill was discovered by the late Canadian blues icon Jeff Healey (only a year after Jimmy picked up his first guitar). As the story goes, in 2001, Bowskill was busking outside of Healey’s club in Toronto when Healey invited him in for a jam session. The kid was clearly a natural. A year later, he released his debut album Old Soul. Bowskill’s innate talent was further recognized when his second album Soap Bars and Dog Ears, released in 2005, earned him a Juno nomination for Blues Album of the Year. At seventeen, Bowskill has just released a self-titled third album, featuring the single Diamond Ring. This album has the right amount of soul, twang and jive to allow even the bluest of souls to rock out, and has grabbed the attention of such greats as Colin James and ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons. It is essentially a blues album pushing rock boundaries. The new tracks, Far From Reality and Diamond Ring are infused with rock elements that reflect Bowskill’s progression and growth as an artist. Bowskill is clearly comfortable bridging the blues, rock and hard pop gap and is developing into an outstanding rock guitarist and vocalist. His album is reflective of the influences of Colin James, Bon Jovi, Elvis Costello, Sting, Brian Setzer and Cold Play, and of course Jeff Healey, to name a few. Bowskill’s highly acclaimed tour of Canada will be followed by a European tour in June.