A Hobart-raised musician who cut his teeth in the city’s old bars is heading to Memphis after winning the solo and duo division of the 2026 MBAS Blues Challenge in Melbourne.
Kier Stevens took out the top spot playing the dobro (a brand of steel resonator guitar) while working a set of foot drums in front of a full house at the Melbourne Blues Appreciation Society.
The win comes with an all expenses paid trip to Tennessee for the International Blues Challenge, which runs across five days in January 2027.
Stevens was born and raised in Hobart and went to school to Mount Stuart Primary School and New Town High School (now Hobart High).
His first gig was at the Good Woman Inn in 2003, back when it was “a rough, old dodgy biker bar”.
He also played the Brisbane Hotel and The Trout Bar before moving to Melbourne in 2012 to chase more music work.
“I’ve been playing solo doing my blues and roots kind of stuff,” Stevens told Pulse.
He said he has played around 500 gigs in the past four years.
A couple of people pushed him to enter the competition when he was not planning to.
Stevens said the Melbourne club covering his travel costs made all the difference.
“This is extremely fortunate for me and I wouldn’t have even been able to enter if that wasn’t the case,” he said.
He said he is hoping the trip opens doors well beyond the contest itself.
“I’m hoping that I can meet people that can help me tour over there, tour here, tour Europe,” he said.
“Like jam with other people, write with other people.”
Stevens described himself as “a live musician” rather than a content creator.
He plays a dobro, a steel guitar more often heard in bluegrass than blues.
He picked it up while still living in Tasmania and credits it with getting him performing blues live.
Stevens has returned to the state four times in the past two years, playing venues including Longley International, MONA and Penguin Beer Co.
He plans to tour Tasmania again after returning from Memphis.
