It can be difficult to summon the energy to drag yourself out to a gig on a miserable Monday night that has no right to call itself the height of summer.

But an injection of blues magic from Texas legend Lightnin' Willie and the Poor Boys is just the ticket to bring a shaft of sunshine to a rainy day. Lightnin' Willie and his boys are at the more well-groomed end of country and blues - those cowboy boots and Cuban heels are polished within an inch of their lives, stylish black suits pressed perfectly, red neckerchief tied neatly in place with a traditional Texas star, and, of course, an enormous ten gallon hat.

But it's not the sartorial skills of the band the mixed crowd of Oxford's swingingest set are out to sample as they pack out the Bullingdon Arms for the Famous Monday Blues.

From the moment Lightnin' Willie takes to the mic he infuses the room with buckets of Texas charm. While it's hard to get the audience doing much more than swaying and nodding appreciatively to Willie's soulful crooning to begin with, he really knows how to work the crowd, abandoning the mic and walking into the crowd and singing Where Does Love Go? to an attractive woman watching in awe.

He's not even put off when someone shout's the answer to his question ("Witney!") and carries on weaving a web of sound. But soon it's goodbye to tender love songs and Willie gets the whole room singing along to Don't Bite the Hand and Satisfied, with hip-swaying giving way to a full-on hoe-down.

Then he brings the room back down to earth with soul-searching political ballad Whole Lot of Trouble. Giles King rocks out on the smallest of all instruments, the harmonica, while thumping drums from Tony Burke drive the pace of the whole, two and-a-half hour set, and bassist Fergie Fulton is simply too cool for school in his sharp black suit and shades.

But it doesn't stop the whole lot of them picking up their kit and wandering into the crowd to get up close and personal with the fans. As well as Willie's own bluesy rockabilly stylings, he sprinkles the set with a couple of classics from the old masters, Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash.

Lightnin' Willie is a proper gent who even asks the punters to raise a glass to his wife, but the lightning tag is no joke when he works the crowd up to a frenzied pitch with an awe-inspiring guitar riff. A touch of dark, a touch of light and a whole lot of blues perfection.