WATERFRONT BLUES FEST GIVES STELLAR PERFORMANCES BY WORLD CLASS BLUES MEN AND WOMEN
Six time Grammy Award winner Buddy Guy * Maceo Parker * Robert Cray * Lucinda Williams * Chubby Carrier & the Bayou Swamp Band * Rebirth Brass Band * Ivan Neville's Dumpstaphunk * Orgone * Bobby Radcliff * Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears * Honey Island Swamp Band * Steve Riley & the Mamou Playboys * Chris Cain * Nathan James * James Harman* Bruce Conte * Preston Shannon * Grady Champion * Curley Taylor & Zydeco Trouble * Meschiya Lake and the Little Big Horns * Corey Ledet & his Zydeco Band ... and many more...
Buddy Guy, six-time Grammy Award winner
"By far and without doubt the greatest guitarist alive today."
– Eric Clapton
Six-time Grammy Award winner, Buddy Guy, the greatest living exponent of classic Chicago electric blues, performs at the festival Sunday, July 3, presented by First Tech Federal Credit Union. Guy's soulful singing and incendiary guitar work have earned him six Grammy Awards, 28 Blues Music Awards (more than any other artist), and induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, joining such past inductees as Chuck Berry, Fats Domino, Elvis Presley, The Beatles, Cream and the Rolling Stones. Guy is also recipient of Billboard magazine's Century Award for distinguished artistic achievement, the Presidential National Medal of Arts, and was ranked in the top 30 of Rolling Stone magazines "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time."
With his new album, Living Proof, Guy takes a hard look back at a remarkable life.
Born in Lettsworth, La., George "Buddy" Guy spent time playing with "Big Poppa" John Tilley and Baton Rouge harmonica ace, Raful Neal. (Neal, who appeared at the Waterfront Blues Festival in 2000, 2001 and 2002, passed away last year. His son, guitarist Kenny Neal, as a teenager played bass in Guy's band.
After moving to Chicago in 1957, Buddy Guy played and recorded with such legendary Windy City bluesmen as Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Sonny Boy Williamson, Bo Diddley, Otis Rush and Willie Dixon. He also performed on a number of now classic recordings on Chess Records, including those he put out with the late harmonica ace, Junior Wells. Buddy's pioneering blues guitar work on those recordings influenced and was idolized by such rockers as Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Stevie Ray Vaughan.
During the '70s, Guy toured with the Rolling Stones and began a long period of collaboration with Junior Wells. (Buddy's brother Phil Guy, who was second guitar in that band, appeared at the Waterfront Blues Festival in 2003). Guy owned and ran Chicago's renowned South Side blues club, the Checkerboard Lounge, from 1972 until it closed in the early '80s. In 1989, he opened Legends, which today remains Chicago's premier blues club.
Buddy Guy's performance at the festival is presented by First Tech Federal Credit Union.
– Eric Clapton
Six-time Grammy Award winner, Buddy Guy, the greatest living exponent of classic Chicago electric blues, performs at the festival Sunday, July 3, presented by First Tech Federal Credit Union. Guy's soulful singing and incendiary guitar work have earned him six Grammy Awards, 28 Blues Music Awards (more than any other artist), and induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, joining such past inductees as Chuck Berry, Fats Domino, Elvis Presley, The Beatles, Cream and the Rolling Stones. Guy is also recipient of Billboard magazine's Century Award for distinguished artistic achievement, the Presidential National Medal of Arts, and was ranked in the top 30 of Rolling Stone magazines "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time."
With his new album, Living Proof, Guy takes a hard look back at a remarkable life.
Born in Lettsworth, La., George "Buddy" Guy spent time playing with "Big Poppa" John Tilley and Baton Rouge harmonica ace, Raful Neal. (Neal, who appeared at the Waterfront Blues Festival in 2000, 2001 and 2002, passed away last year. His son, guitarist Kenny Neal, as a teenager played bass in Guy's band.
After moving to Chicago in 1957, Buddy Guy played and recorded with such legendary Windy City bluesmen as Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Sonny Boy Williamson, Bo Diddley, Otis Rush and Willie Dixon. He also performed on a number of now classic recordings on Chess Records, including those he put out with the late harmonica ace, Junior Wells. Buddy's pioneering blues guitar work on those recordings influenced and was idolized by such rockers as Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Stevie Ray Vaughan.
During the '70s, Guy toured with the Rolling Stones and began a long period of collaboration with Junior Wells. (Buddy's brother Phil Guy, who was second guitar in that band, appeared at the Waterfront Blues Festival in 2003). Guy owned and ran Chicago's renowned South Side blues club, the Checkerboard Lounge, from 1972 until it closed in the early '80s. In 1989, he opened Legends, which today remains Chicago's premier blues club.
Buddy Guy's performance at the festival is presented by First Tech Federal Credit Union.
Robert Cray Band
Robert Cray’s This Time – the first studio album on singer-songwriter-guitarist Cray’s own imprint Nozzle Records, distributed by Vanguard Records – arrives at a vital juncture in the musician’s career, marked by creative renewal and a key reunion with an old performing partner.
The five-time Grammy Award winner summarized 35 years of mastery on Live From Across the Pond (2006), an electrifying two-CD concert set drawn from a series of shows (opening for Eric Clapton) at London’s Royal Albert Hall. When the time came to follow up that widely praised collection with a studio recording, Cray viewed it as an opportunity to move his sound in other directions.
He found what he was looking for by turning to one of his oldest friends and colleagues: bassist Richard Cousins, whose tenure with the Robert Cray Band began with its barnstorming regional origins in Eugene, Oregon, in 1974 and extended through 1991, encompassing such early high-water marks as Strong Persuader (1986) and Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark (1988), both winners of the best contemporary blues performance Grammy.
“I’ve known Richard for 40 years,” Cray says. “We go back to 1969, and we grew up in the same area together. We’ve always had a really good rapport together stage-wise. Richard and I have remained the best of friends ever since he departed way back in ’91. I’d still see Richard, whether it was in the States or in Europe – where he still lives. He’d always come to see us at the gigs. We always remained close. We talked on the telephone all the time. “It just so happened that last year, I wanted to make personnel changes in the band. So I asked Richard to come back.”
Cousins’ return to the Cray fold bonds him once again with keyboardist Jim Pugh, a cornerstone of the guitarist’s group since 1989.
In the hunt for a new drummer, Cray – with encouragement from Cousins — struck on a musician whose style and experience perfectly complemented his own: the road-tested Tony Braunagel, whose résumé includes work with Bonnie Raitt (including her Grammy-winning Nick of Time and Luck of the Draw), Taj Mahal, Keb’ Mo’, and B.B. King.
Cray recalls, “I’d seen Tony work in a lot of different situations before. My first real opportunity to play with him was three years ago, when we did a benefit up in Portland, Oregon, for our friend Curtis Salgado. Tony was playing drums there, and Richard was there, too – they were the rhythm section. Richard was working really well with Tony, and they were kind of fronting the whole jam. It was great. I was talking to Richard after he’d rejoined the group, and I said, ‘We need to find a drummer.’ He just went, ‘Tony!’”
The refreshed lineup of Cray, Cousins, Pugh, and Braunagel came together at Santa Barbara Sound Design in Santa Barbara, California, to record what became This Time. Cray produced (though he notes, “Every time I produce, it’s like a communal effort”), with Don Smith engineering.
Cray says of the sessions, “I really looked forward to it -- to how Richard and I were going to gel together after having not played together for a long time, and to bringing Richard back to work with Jim, because we did all get a chance to work together for two years, before Richard left -- and then having Tony come in. “Richard and Jim and myself have all known each other for a while, but when we added Tony to the mix, it was like, ‘Hey, where you been?’ We all get along really, really well. It was fun, and everybody brought something to the table. Tony’s interpretation of what we were doing was just spot-on, and of course, with his background, all the music that he’d listened to and played coincided with the music we’ve listened to and played over the years. It was like the perfect hand in the glove.”
Robert Cray's performance at the festival is presented by iQ Credit Union.
The five-time Grammy Award winner summarized 35 years of mastery on Live From Across the Pond (2006), an electrifying two-CD concert set drawn from a series of shows (opening for Eric Clapton) at London’s Royal Albert Hall. When the time came to follow up that widely praised collection with a studio recording, Cray viewed it as an opportunity to move his sound in other directions.
He found what he was looking for by turning to one of his oldest friends and colleagues: bassist Richard Cousins, whose tenure with the Robert Cray Band began with its barnstorming regional origins in Eugene, Oregon, in 1974 and extended through 1991, encompassing such early high-water marks as Strong Persuader (1986) and Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark (1988), both winners of the best contemporary blues performance Grammy.
“I’ve known Richard for 40 years,” Cray says. “We go back to 1969, and we grew up in the same area together. We’ve always had a really good rapport together stage-wise. Richard and I have remained the best of friends ever since he departed way back in ’91. I’d still see Richard, whether it was in the States or in Europe – where he still lives. He’d always come to see us at the gigs. We always remained close. We talked on the telephone all the time. “It just so happened that last year, I wanted to make personnel changes in the band. So I asked Richard to come back.”
Cousins’ return to the Cray fold bonds him once again with keyboardist Jim Pugh, a cornerstone of the guitarist’s group since 1989.
In the hunt for a new drummer, Cray – with encouragement from Cousins — struck on a musician whose style and experience perfectly complemented his own: the road-tested Tony Braunagel, whose résumé includes work with Bonnie Raitt (including her Grammy-winning Nick of Time and Luck of the Draw), Taj Mahal, Keb’ Mo’, and B.B. King.
Cray recalls, “I’d seen Tony work in a lot of different situations before. My first real opportunity to play with him was three years ago, when we did a benefit up in Portland, Oregon, for our friend Curtis Salgado. Tony was playing drums there, and Richard was there, too – they were the rhythm section. Richard was working really well with Tony, and they were kind of fronting the whole jam. It was great. I was talking to Richard after he’d rejoined the group, and I said, ‘We need to find a drummer.’ He just went, ‘Tony!’”
The refreshed lineup of Cray, Cousins, Pugh, and Braunagel came together at Santa Barbara Sound Design in Santa Barbara, California, to record what became This Time. Cray produced (though he notes, “Every time I produce, it’s like a communal effort”), with Don Smith engineering.
Cray says of the sessions, “I really looked forward to it -- to how Richard and I were going to gel together after having not played together for a long time, and to bringing Richard back to work with Jim, because we did all get a chance to work together for two years, before Richard left -- and then having Tony come in. “Richard and Jim and myself have all known each other for a while, but when we added Tony to the mix, it was like, ‘Hey, where you been?’ We all get along really, really well. It was fun, and everybody brought something to the table. Tony’s interpretation of what we were doing was just spot-on, and of course, with his background, all the music that he’d listened to and played coincided with the music we’ve listened to and played over the years. It was like the perfect hand in the glove.”
Robert Cray's performance at the festival is presented by iQ Credit Union.
Bill Rhoades Harmonica Blow Off: Stan Street, Bill Rhoades,Grady Champion, James HarmanOn Monday evening, July 4, the Oregonian Front Porch Stage hosts Bill Rhoade's 11th Annual WBF Harmonica Blow-Off. Rhoades, a former KBOO-fm blues DJ and harmonica ace, presents another stellar lineup of blow-hards: JAMES HARMAN from Southern California, STAN STREET from Clarksdale, MOn Monday evening, July 4, the Oregonian Front Porch Stage hosts Bill Rhoade's 11th Annual WBF Harmonica Blow-Off. Rhoades, a former KBOO-fm blues DJ and harmonica ace, presents another stellar lineup of blow-hards: JAMES HARMAN from Southern California, STAN STREET from Clarksdale, Mississippi; GRADY CHAMPION, from Jackson, Mississippi; and more to be announced. They'll be backed by an all-star Portland rhythm section that includes Mannish Boys' guitarist Franck "Paris Slim" Goldwasser; Rick Welter also on guitar; Albert Reda on bass; DK Stewart on keyboard; and Jimi Bott on drums.ississippi; GRADY CHAMPION, from Jackson, Mississippi; and more to be announced. They'll be backed by an all-star Portland rhythm section that includes Mannish Boys' guitarist Franck "Paris Slim" Goldwasser; Rick Welter also on guitar; Albert Reda on bass; DK Stewart on keyboard; and Jimi Bott on drums.
A King and Two Queens of Chicago Blues: Deitra Farr, Demetria Taylor and Tail Dragger
This powerhouse group features some of the upcoming stars of the Chicago Blues Scene: vocalists Deitra Farr, Demetria Taylor and Tail Dragger, backed by Windy City harmonica ace Martin Lane and Oakland’s Ronnie Stewart and Caravan of Allstars.
James Yancy Jones, a/k/a "Tail Dragger," has been a fixture on the Chicago blues scene for decades. After moving to to the city in the '60s, he began playing with blues legends on the West Side and South Side. Known in those days as Crawlin' James, it was Howlin’ Wolf who gave Jones the title “Tail Dragger” because of his habit of showing up late to gigs. Tail Dragger's 'My Head Is Bald: Live At Vern's Friendly Lounge' remains Delmark Records' best-selling DVD.
Demetria Taylor—The “Bad Girl” of Chicago Blues—is the youngest daughter of Eddie Taylor, one of the most influential Chicago blues guitarists of all time, and father to a large family of Chicago’s West Side blues talent. Demetria is the youngest Taylor offspring and latest to break out as a blues star on her own, following her father, (long time guitarist with the great Jimmy Reed); mother, vocalist Vera Taylor; great uncle, Chicago soul/blues icon Jimmy Burns; and brother, the guitarist Eddie Taylor, Jr. Demetria turns heads with her own distinctive and passionate vocal style—she can growl like Koko Taylor, but also has sensual purr, great taste, timing and deep blues roots. Demetria's debut release Bad Girl, is due out on Delmark records this spring. Even though she just turned 38, Demetria won the B.L.U.E.S. on Halsted Blues Diva Contest 2010, has performed three times at the Chicago Blues Festival and guested on two recordings by her brother, guitarist Eddie Taylor, Jr.
Meschiya Lake and The Little Big Horns
The Little Big Horns, joined by Seattle saxophonist Craig Flory, will perform Saturday night, July 2 on the DME Rock the Boat Dance Cruise, a special cruise for blues and swing dancers.
Sunday, July 3, Mischya Lake and The Little Big Horns will perform on the Oregonian Front Porch Stage for a swing and blues dance competition featuring dance lessons and demonstrations. For more on the dance events coinciding with the Festival this year—including both on-site and off-site after-hours dances, classes and demonstrations—visitportlandbluesexperience.com
"Diminutive vocalist Meschiya Lake has a...deep, full voice...as dark and rich as a liquor filled bon- bon…and powerful enough to stop one of the freight trains she used to hop..."
-Alison Fensterstock, NOLA.com
“Meschiya Lake rocks back on her heels, lifts her chest, and opens her throat like an air raid siren to croon in a thrilling pre-microphone style that...can make you feel by turns as though you were shivering around a campfire in a railroad yard or drinking in a Budapest nightclub in 1938.”
- Dan Baum, The New Yorker
In the spring of 2007, Meschiya Lake began singing with the Crescent City’s traditional jazz outfit, the Loose Marbles, on Royal Street in New Orleans’ French Quarter. Joined by dancers Chance Bushman and Amy Johnson, the Marbles helped usher in a new revival of traditional jazz and dance. Bringing the joy and vitality of New Orleans’ spirit while wowing audiences both young and old, they toured the United States and Europe, playing on streets, in clubs, and leaving a trail of write-ups in publications along the way. (The Loose Marbles performed at Waterfront Blues Festival in 2009, though without Meschiya).
Once back home in New Orleans, Meschiya delighted in participating in and watching the jazz revival unfold around her, with jazz and jazz dance fever bringing more and more musicians and dancers to town. Meschiya formed 'The Little Big Horns Jazz Band' in the Spring of 2009 and, saving pennies from the street, produced the first Little Big Horns album, Lucky Devil, to National Acclaim. On the 5th anniversary of Katrina, DJ David Kunian of WWOZ cited Lucky Devil as one of his four favorite releases of 2010 on NPR's All Things Considered.
Seattle native Craig Flory has been playing clarinet, sax and flute, in addition to composing, arranging and recording professionally since the age of 18. Some of the artists he has worked with include: Tex Williams, Julian Priester, Ruth Brown, Howard Tate, Wayne Horvitz, Mick Taylor, Butch Morris, Bonnie Raitt, Robin Holcomb, Mdeski, Martin and Wood, Skerik, Joey Arias, Meschiya Lake, The Evergreen Classic Jazz Band, Steve Cropper and Pearl Jam. He was a featured artist at The Bohem Ragtime Jazz festival in 2009. He has composed, arranged and/or recorded for MUZAC, Teo Macero and MudHoney.
http://www.waterfrontbluesfest.com/performances/
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