It’s a long way from Melbourne, Australia, to the Mississippi Delta, but Australian bluesman Geoff Achison has somehow managed to connect the musical dots. The guitarist and singer channels the finest points of American blues into a gritty, personal style that’s amped up with plenty of Down Under “aggro.” Not only is Achison tapping into the Delta, he’s developed a hankering for the blues from the Southside of Chicago, too. In other words, Achison can captivate a crowd with an acoustic guitar on his knee or a Les Paul strapped across his shoulder. His latest record, “Acho Solo,” is a collection of solo acoustic recordings, but his 2005 disc, “Little Big Men,” features wailing electric blues. Achison’s originality and remarkable ability as a guitarist is only part of the picture. He’s a stellar vocalist who’s often compared to Joe Cocker or Paul Weller. He was born in rural Australia and grew up listening to American blues. He taught himself to play guitar on his mother’s beat-up acoustic, and by the time he was in his 20s, he was playing lead guitar with Melbourne’s top blues band, Dutch Tilders & The Blues Club. He left that band in 1995 to pursue his own career and formed the first incarnation of his band The Souldiggers. He also released his first CD that year, and made his first trip to the U.S. to represent Melbourne at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis. He wasn’t exactly sure if his distinctly Australian version of blues-rock would win approval in the land where it all began … but he shouldn’t have worried. Achison wowed the crowd and won the coveted Albert King Award. He even scored an endorsement deal with Gibson guitars. In 1998, he formed a U.S. version of The Souldiggers and recorded a CD called “Getting Evil.” During his tours of that year, Achison met Jorma Kaukonen of Hot Tuna and Jefferson Airplane fame, and Kaukonen was so impressed with Achison’s stylistic playing that he’s invited the Australian to be a guest guitar instructor every year at his Fur Peace Ranch in Ohio. Achison has also established quite a following in Britain and Europe, and he hasn’t neglected his Australian fans either. In 2002, Achison won the Melbourne Blues Appreciation Society’s awards for Best Blues Band and Best Male Performer. He’s been hailed as one of the finest blues players in all of Australia. “Geoff’s influence on young blues players today is unimaginable, with all the young guns idolizing Geoff and learning his licks,” wrote a Melbourne critic. Achison has recorded 10 CDs in all, and carved out a global niche for his distinctive funk-rock inspired blues. He now lives in Atlanta and is actively touring and producing new music. With a seemingly never-ending schedule of gigs and tours, he has still found time to release a DVD called “Souldiggin” that features one of his energetic performances in one of his favorite Australian venues. So get ready for some “Souldigging” in King Park.