“How can you listen to Buddy Guy and not get off on that?” he said. 

But Ashton does not limit himself to one genre of music as he also encompasses rock, punk and alternative as he thinks it is important to remain contemporary and original. 

“I just try and find my own voice,” he said.

“You’ve got to try and be a little bit unique, got to have something to offer that hasn’t been done too much.

“I’m just a white guy from Adelaide; I play blues music but you can’t say you are totally a blues artist as blues is more of a lifestyle.

“You have to live blues to make it more authentic, and I certainly try and do that.” 

In this respect, Ashton’s history can speak for itself, as he has been playing music for 40 years, touring with such legends as BB King, Ray Charles, Buddy Guy, Johnny Winter, The Yardbirds and Status Quo. 

In 1999 he played support at 15 shows for Status Quo and enjoyed a good relationship with the band’s lead singer Francis Rossi – they would sit in the studio and bang out a few tunes together. 

Ashton’s career as a travelling musician has meant he has toured relentlessly through Australia and Europe, and when asked where the strangest place he has played was, he replied “there’s been a lot”.

One memorable experience was travelling through the Balkans last year and he was stopped by the border patrol before entering a country as they thought he had too many guitars – thinking he was a salesman and not a musician.  

He was not allowed to either go forwards or go back to the country he had left, so his agent called the owner of the venue where he was to play to find out what they could do.

Luckily, the venue owner’s godfather was a high-ranking police officer and was able to pull some strings to let them in. 

“I was just sitting in the sunshine thinking ‘some people would really freak out about this, but I’m having a great time’,” Ashton said.  

Performing both as a solo act and with a band, for the gigs on his own Ashton whips out the bass drum, lapsteel, 12-string guitar and harmonica. 

Listening to him perform alone, it is easy to forget he is just one musician and instead think he has a backing band as he plays so furiously. 

“I try and get as powerful as possible with it,” Ashton said.

“There are a lot of dynamics, sometimes loud, sometimes soft.” 

Ashton is playing a free solo show at the Dromedary Hotel, Central Tilba on March 19 from 4pm.