One of the world’s premiere rock photographers, San Francisco based Jay Blakesberg first picked up a camera in 1977 to shoot concerts and began photographing The Grateful Dead at the age of 16 in 1978. Over the next 25 years he developed a close relationship with both the band and fanatical Deadheads - the result being the highly acclaimed book Between the Dark and Light, The Grateful Dead Photography of Jay Blakesberg. Recently he also contributed many of the images for Waking Up With A Placebo Headwound, a book chronicling The Flaming Lips that has had received critical acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic.

His work also regularly appears in national and international publications including Rolling Stone, Time, Newsweek, Entertainment Weekly and MOJO as well as shooting sleeve art for many major record labels.

However the centrepiece of this, Jay’s first ever European exhibition, will be his fascinating portfolio of the elusive and enigmatic Tom Waits. Jay has enjoyed a rare, close relationship with Waits - the results being as intriguing and myth making as the man himself. Jay recalls one typically bizarre shoot in 1999 which originally involved typical Waits elements of posing by abandoned barns and chicken shacks before Tom then insisting on driving around and parking up outside the house of total stranger and demanding that an abandoned car in the yard be the backdrop to the session.

Jay, Waits growled, I don’t know who’s house this is or who that car belongs to, but you are the captain of this ship so you better go knock on that door and ask permission to take some pictures. After getting no answer they headed towards the car only to be stopped by a little old lady, the property owner. Jay explained they just wanted some shots of Tom with the car, which led to her shouting “That car, it don’t drive! It don’t drive! It has no wheels! It has not been driven since my husband died 30 years ago!. Eventually they realized the widow was mostly deaf, and didn’t really understand what this group of strangers really wanted to do. She finally granted access to the vehicle, and left shaking her head shouting Ok! Ok! – but it’s go no wheels…

Jay eventually got the shots he needed before Tom proceeded to jump over a fence, run off down the road, jump in his truck and speed off – leaving Jay, his assistant and Tom’s publicist standing literally dazed and confused in the driveway of a stranger’s house in the middle of nowhere. Previously unseen shots from this and other equally surreal Tom Waits photo sessions will be featured in this exhibition.

In addition to magazine and publicity shoots for rock aristocracy like Nirvana, Radiohead, The Rolling Stones, R.E.M., John Lee Hooker, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Joni Mitchell, David Byrne, Neil Young and Carlos Santana, Jay has also built a great reputation for capturing the essence of live performance. To present this work visually he has created numerous triptychs of live artists and on display in the Manchester show will be examples of these featuring Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen and Paul McCartney with Neil Young amongst others.

From his early experiences following Jerry Garcia and The Grateful Dead around on tour for months, to his recent commissions to shoot artists Carlso Santana and Wilco, Jay has continued to capture the spirit of rock and roll both on and off stage with a unique candid style and intimacy – all of which will be reflected in this exclusive UK exhibition at The Richard Goodall Gallery.