Burnley musician's Alcatraz inspired album (From Lancashire Telegraph)

Burnley musician's Alcatraz inspired album

1:00pm Sunday 12th February 2012 in Burnley

A BURNLEY musician is hoping to hit the big-time with his Alcatraz-themed album — thanks to a hit US TV show.

Paul Waterworth, who has played with the Animals and Little Richard in a 40-year career, has had more than one million hits on his songs online.

His album Alcatraz Life is inspired by stories of his great uncle Bob Waterworth, who served time in the notorious island prison, off the coast of San Francisco, in the 1920s.

There is now increased interest in the prison, which closed in 1963, because of a top new TV series that has been launched in America called Alcatraz.

Mr Waterworth’s blues and rock music has seen him compared to Johnny Cash in the US, where he has started to gain airplay.

He is well-known in East Lancashire for his performances with the Uptown Band and at the Burnley blues festival as well as at bars and clubs across the area.

He said: “I grew up on tales of my great uncle and Alcatraz and have been working on the songs most of my life but now it is really taking off.

“Alcatraz has always fascinated me and been the focus of much of my music.”

His uncle, known as ‘Short Straw Bob’ because of his bad luck, was sent to prison for 12 months after he was caught with a wagon full of bootleg booze during prohibition times.

He was sent to a local prison before being transferred to Alcatraz. A riot at the prison saw six years added to his sentence, although Paul said his relative had nothing to do with the trouble there.

Short Straw Bob, who is the subject of one of Mr Waterworth’s songs, returned to East Lancashire on his release, opening a cloggers in Brierfield.

Mr Waterworth’s music has been released under the name The Cutler Waterworth Band. He sings and plays all of the instruments except lead guitar.

He has recently made friends with former Alcatraz inmate Robert ‘Cold-Blue’ Luke after he heard about his music. The ex-convict was one of the guests of honour at the premiere of the first episode of the Alcatraz series on the island itself.

Mr Waterworth, a grandfather of six, from Pike Hill, said he would never want to visit Alcatraz, now a tourist destination, because he would find it too upsetting.