BLUES guitarist Scott McKeon may only be 15 years old but he's certainly paid his dues.

He's slugged his axe around the blues halls of Texas and worked with the house band that plays with people like BB King.

This weekend he arrives on stage at Bishopstock where headliners include legendary figures like Taj Mahal and Johnnie Winters, Booker T and the MGs, Gary Moore and Peter Green.

With a blistering guitar style that has left seasoned veterans gawping, jaw-on-the floor, this fresh-faced young Bourne-mouth School pupil has astounded audiences on both sides of the Atlantic.

Now the boy from Wimborne - maybe the first exponent of the deep blues of the Piddle Delta - is set to make his first headlining appearance at Bournemouth's Mr Smiths.

The gig on Saturday night should be well worth catching.

Scott is delighted with the booking, saying it will be great to play what he regards as his home town.

But the young musician, who these days plays with bass guitarist Barry Evans and drummer Ben Jones, says the biggest deal on the horizon at the moment is travelling to the Bishopstock Festival near Exeter on Sunday.

There they will play the talent tent, attempting to win the international blues challenge and taking part in a showcase that brings them exposure to some serious movers and shakers in the music industry.

Scott admits that after already playing to serious acclaim at a variety of clubs and festivals, he is in no doubt that he will continue to make his career as a professional musician.

He originally picked up a guitar after seeing a rock 'n' roll musical in London when he was just five years old. He proved a natural, cutting his musical teeth on numbers by Eddie Cochran, Chuck Berry and Buddy Holly.

But it was only a matter of time before he spotted a video of the late Stevie Ray Vaughan and knew exactly where his destiny lay.

At 12 he was spending his school holidays playing the blues circuit in Austin, Texas.

The fact that many of Scott's classmates have little interest in his musical heroes doesn't worry him.

"That's fine," he says. "It's not as though I hate what's in the charts. It's just pop music. A lot of it just doesn't seem very important."

In a manner that is totally un rock 'n' roll, he insists that he is completely committed to his school studies.

"It's important," he says. "You never know what might happen."

Oh we do Scott...

"Woke up this morning found I'd got me a bunch of GCSEs."