THE man who once counted Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton and The Small Faces as support acts is reciting his own brand of Shakespeare down the phone to me.

Geno Washington, who burst onto the UK blues scene in the early sixties, likes to speak in rhyme and seems to enjoy rhyming my name ‘Jo’ with his new band the Yo-Yos – “That’s Shakespeare,” he tells me.

Speaking from his London home, where the phone is picked up by his wife Frenchie, I am immersed instantly in Geno’s world, where his beloved dog German Spitz dog ZZ – who travels with Geno on tour - is barking away merrily in the background.

Originally playing with the Ram Jam Band, charismatic performer Geno will be joined by the Yo-Yos when he takes to the stage in the Marine Theatre in Lyme Regis on Sunday night.

He said: “I want everyone to come see the show and enjoy the day.

“I enjoy travelling to the gig, meeting some of the people.”

I ask Geno whether he’s excited to return to Lyme Regis.

“I’ve been there before?” he asks.

“Yes,” I say, slightly less sure of myself now.

And then comes Geno’s deep, infectious full bellied laugh.

“When you’re on the road so much, you don’t know where you are. What keeps me in a good frame of mind is laughing and joking around with my band mates. I think I have been going for so long because I love performing,” he says.

And there have been plenty of darker moments. US-born Geno grew up surrounded by blues music in Evansville, Indiana.

“Segregation was going on and my mom and dad went to jail. I was in the orphanage. That’s the way it was for thousands of black kids before Martin Luther King started marching for equal rights.

“They ran Elvis Presley and Janis Joplin out of town because they went across to the other side of town to listen to the blues. I was surrounded by the blues 24/7,” he said.

Honorary Brit Geno has had an ongoing love affair with the UK since he was stationed in East Anglia with the US Air Force during the early 1960s.

He said: “I fell in love with the UK. There aren’t many places in the world where they make you feel so welcome. It’s so cosmopolitan and I never think about going back to live in America – I’m out of that jungle now.”

This year’s line up for the Lyme Regis Jazz & Blues Weekend promises a feel-good roster of crowd-pleasing acts to suit all tastes. Geno Washington and the Yo-Yos will then take to the stage on Sunday night, with doors opening at 7.45pm.

See lymeregisjazzfestival.co.uk for more information.