Sunday, August 5 at 4:30 p.m.
RBF Main Stage

Don’t make the mistake of thinking of Rod Piazza as one of the “young turks” of the blues, or part of the “new generation” of blues greats. At this point in his career, Piazza has been recording longer than his mentor George “Harmonica” Smith did, or Sonny Boy Williamson (either of them!), or Big Walter Horton. He’s been making records for more years than Little Walter was alive. Piazza is a tried-and-true, dyed-in-the-wool blues veteran with credentials that are second to none.

From his first recordings as a leader in 1967 fronting The Dirty Blues Band, through his multiple W.C. Handy Award winning with his current band The Mighty Flyers, to his countless appearances both live and on record with legendary blues figures, Piazza has set a standard for harmonica virtuosity that has established him as one of the most influential living blues harp players. He’s consistently surrounded himself with players who bring out the best he has to offer, and epitomize the very best in blues: fresh, swinging, tasteful, exciting and creative. The core of his band has been together for over three decades, and developed the kind of musical telepathy that simply cannot exist without years of experience on the bandstand and in the studio. The Mighty Flyers are a well-oiled machine, with Piazza in the driver’s seat.

Born in 1947, Piazza’s infatuation with blues began at a time when many of the masters were still in their prime years, and in the mid 1960s when the first blues revival was picking up steam, he was in the thick of it. By the 1970s, he’d already released five albums, and was one of the leading lights of the West Coast Blues scene. In the early ’70s he joined forces with Otis Spann disciple Honey Alexander (now his wife) on piano, and when they formed the Mighty Flyers over three decades ago, his career really hit its stride. Since then Piazza and the Mighty Flyers have won or been nominated for just about every award that can be bestowed upon a blues band, played literally thousands of gigs around the world, recorded over a dozen highly acclaimed releases, and along the way virtually created a new style of blues – a combination of low-down Chicago grit, suave West Coast swing and jazz, and the rhythmic drive of the best early R&B and rock & roll. Quite simply, Rod Piazza and The Mighty Flyers are one of the best, most experienced, and most distinctive bands in blues today.

Biography courtesy http://www.themightyflyers.com/

Sunday, August 5 at 2:30 p.m.
RBF Main Stage

With the release of GoGo Juice on FHQ Records, New Orleans funk master Jon Cleary returns to writing and recording the original material that has brought him critical acclaim since his 1999 album Moonburn.

Beyond Cleary’s considerable skills as a tunesmith he is equally renowned around the globe as an accomplished keyboardist and guitarist, and a deeply soulful vocalist. Cleary’s thirty-five years of intensive hands-on work on the Crescent City scene has made him a respected peer of such New Orleans R&B icons as Dr. John and Allen Toussaint. Toussaint, in fact, took time from his busy schedule to write most of the horn arrangements for GoGo Juice – thus bringing symmetry to Cleary’s recording of an entire album of Toussaint songs, entitled Occapella, which garnered rave reviews in 2012.

In addition to the Toussaint touch, GoGo Juice bursts, full flavor, with expert accompaniment by some of New Orleans’ top session men – including guitarist Shane Theriot, fellow keyboardist and vocalist Nigel Hall, and the Dirty Dozen horns – along with members of Cleary’s band, the Absolute Monster Gentlemen. (In praise of Cleary’s chemistry with this latter group, the eminent music journalist David Fricke of Rolling Stone declared that “Cleary can be an absolute monster on his own, but Cleary’s full combo R&B is as broad, deep and roiling as the Mississippi River, the combined swinging product of local keyboard tradition, Cleary’s vocal-songwriting flair for moody Seventies soul and the spunky-Meters roll of his Gentlemen”). Grammy Award-winning producer John Porter comes to GoGo Juice with a distinguished resume that includes work with the diverse likes of Elvis Costello, Carlos Santana and B. B. King, to name just a few.

Such diversity similarly characterizes the essence of Jon Cleary’s work and career. While thoroughly steeped in the classic Crescent City keyboard canon – from Jelly Roll Morton to Fats Domino to Art Neville, James Booker, and beyond – Cleary uses that century’s worth of pianistic brilliance as a point of departure to forge his own unique and eclectic style. As heard in the widely varied grooves and textures of GoGo Juice, Cleary’s sound incorporates such far-flung influences as ‘70s soul, gospel music, funk, Afro-Caribbean (and especially Afro-Cuban) rhythms and more. “I love New Orleans R&B, “ Cleary explains. “I’m a student of it – and a fan, first and foremost. But there’s little point in just going back and re-recording the old songs – although on my live solo shows, especially in New Orleans, I make a point of trying to keep the fast- disappearing tradition of the R&B pianist/singer alive by playing the old songs that are in danger of being forgotten. As for recording, however, I think the greatest New Orleans R&B records are the ones that built on what went before but also added something new. By writing new songs you get to channel all the music you absorb through your own individual set of filters – and the fun is in seeing what emerges.”

Cleary has gloriously achieved this desired synthesis of tradition-rooted originality and forward thinking on GoGo Juice. From the ska-inflected “Pump It Up” to the life-affirming Fellini-esque “second line” that is “Boneyard,” from the introspective confessional ballad “Step Into My Life” to the rambunctious funk of “Getcha GoGo Juice,” from the exquisitely unhurried syncopation of “Love On One Condition” to the pulsing Southern-soul feel of “Beg, Steal or Borrow,” GoGo Juice makes a deep personal statement by Cleary and shimmers as a multi-faceted jewel of variegated grooves.

Besides the great musicianship displayed by all who play on this album, Cleary’s songwriting similarly shines. The joyous “Getcha GoGo Juice” – “comprised entirely of lines I’ve overheard people say in New Orleans” – revels in such idiosyncratic, pithy gems of Crescent City argot as “you don’t need a license til you get caught” and “I don’t need the money, just the people I owe”. In drawing on this rich resource, Cleary followed the advice of the great New Orleans songwriter Earl King to “keep a little notepad and always jot down the trash-talking you hear on the street.” “9 to 5,” a condemnation of shallow materialism, is also based on New Orleans street language, and its title is based on a line from the traditional songs “Junker Blues” and “Junco Partner” — “Six months ain’t no sentence, and one year ain’t no time, they got boys in penitentiary doing nine to ninety-nine”:

All the beautiful people in my cable TV
They’re looking through the screen and smiling at me
And it’s all cool and lovely
In that video world
Sunsets and islands
Diamonds and pearls
Meanwhile
9-5 sho feel like 9-99
Hand to mouth
Ain’t nothing but marking time

On a related note “Brother I’m Hungry” examines the harshly contrasting proximity of wealth and poverty, from the compassionate perspective of “there but for the grace of god go I”:

We guard our jealous fortune
We got our slice of pie
Now this all begs the question
How long ‘til you and I
Might find ourselves in the same situation
How long before we all got to cry…

On a lighter note, in view of such grim realities, “Boneyard” encourages us all to enjoy life while we can:

Before I’m nuttin’ but rag and bones
Gonna gather no moss like a rolling stone
Before I make it to the boneyard
I’m gonna have my fun…

And “Bringing Back The Home” reveals Cleary’s deep love for, and understanding of, his adopted home since 1980 and references the plight of the estimated hundred thousand New Orleanians that fled Hurricane Katrina and who ten years later have yet to return:

Bringing back the home
Of the greatest gift that
America gave the world
Jazz, funk, rhythm and blues, and soul
Buddy Bolden blow your horn
It’s time to call your children home
A new wind is blowing through us all
Like driftwood washed up on the shore
Of a strange foreign land
Tired, broke, got nowhere to turn
If nobody minds the store
Lord have mercy on the 504

Jon Cleary’s love and affinity for New Orleans music goes back to the rural British village of Cranbrook, Kent, where he was raised in a musical family. Cleary’s maternal grandparents performed under the respective stage names Sweet Dolly Daydream and Frank Neville, ‘The Little Fellow With The Educated Feet’ – she as a singer, and he as a tap dancer. His father was a 50’s skiffle man and taught him the rudiments as soon as he was big enough to reach around the neck of his guitar. Upon attaining double-digit age Cleary became avidly interested in funk-filled music, buying records and intently studying their labels and album covers in order to glean as much information as possible. Such perusal revealed that three songs he especially loved — LaBelle’s “Lady Marmalade,” Robert Palmer’s version of“Sneakin’ Sally Through the Alley” and Frankie Miller’s rendition of “Brickyard Blues” – were attributed to Allen Toussaint as either the songwriter, the producer, or both. Cleary’s knowledge expanded significantly when his Uncle, musician Johnny Johnson returned from a sojourn in New Orleans in the early 70’s and brought back two suitcases of rare and obscure local 45s, which allowed the adolescent Cleary to pursue his study of R&B in great depth, with special attention to the New Orleans sound that increasingly captivated him.

As soon as he was old enough to leave school in 1980 Cleary took off for the Crescent City. When his flight touched down a taxi took him straight to the Maple Leaf, a funky Uptown bar which then featured such New Orleans piano legends as Roosevelt Sykes and James Booker. Cleary got a job painting the club, and lived a few doors down for a time, allowing him unlimited free access to all the great New Orleans music performed within. One night when James Booker didn’t show up, the club’s manager insisted that Jon get up and play before the paying customers demanded a refund. Thrust suddenly into the spotlight Jon was ready, willing and able to play his first paying gig in New Orleans – and although he had come to town as a guitarist, this debut was also the first step of his career as a pianist.

Soon Cleary reached the existential crossroads of either devoting his life to the city’s music, or returning to England. Cleary chose New Orleans, and before long he began to land sideman gigs with the venerable likes of such New Orleans R&B legends (and his childhood heroes) as guitarists Snooks Eaglin, and Earl “Trick Bag” King, and singers Johnny Adams, and Jessie Hill.

By 1989, Cleary had recorded his first album of eight including the new GoGo Juice. His increasingly high-profile performances revealed a level of proficient versatility that led to recording sessions and international touring work – in an appropriately wide stylistic range – in the bands of Taj Mahal, John Scofield, Dr. John and, most notably, Bonnie Raitt. As a songwriter, he has written and co-written songs with and for Bonnie Raitt and Taj Mahal and the decade that he spent working with Raitt inspired her to unabashedly dub Cleary “the ninth wonder of the world.”

Jon Cleary left Bonnie Raitt’s band in 2009 to concentrate on his own music. And now, 35 years since he arrived in New Orleans, Cleary has made an eloquent, definitive and future-classic artistic statement. “Funk is the ethnic folk music of New Orleans,” Cleary says, “and I wanted to infuse GoGo Juice with a sound that was true to the city I love. It’s the kind of record that could only be made in New Orleans.”

Biography courtesy http://www.joncleary.com/

Sunday, August 5 at 12:30 p.m.
RBF Main Stage

Zac Harmon is an award-winning guitarist, organist, singer, and songwriter whose distinctive style combines the best of old-school soul-blues artists with modern lyrics and themes that bring the blues into a new century. His new Blind Pig CD, Right Man Right Now, is contemporary music that proves just how alive and relevant the blues is today.

Blues Revue called Harmon “aImasterful musician and performer of the blues.” Blues journalist Don Wilcock referred to his “Bobby Blue Bland uptown sophistication with a touch of Freddie King guitar.” And JazzReview said, “With his big blues sound from Mississippi, Harmon can go toe to toe with some of the best blues men in the business. Please don’t be shy, go ahead and mention Harmon’s name in the same sentence with Bobby “Blue” Bland, Albert King and Bobby Rush—just to name a few.”

Born and raised in Jackson, Mississippi, Zac Harmon is a true embodiment of the music that emanated from the city’s historic Farish Street district, home of blues legend Elmore James. Given that Zac was exposed to a lot of music in his home, neighborhood, and local culture, it’s not surprising that he turned out a blues musician. His mom played piano, and his dad, the city’s first black pharmacist, played harmonica and tended to the needs of artists such as Muddy Waters, B.B. King, Ike and Tina Turner, Albert King, and Little Milton.

His next door neighbor was a music instructor who would host friends such as Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington, and Harry Belafonte in her home. Another neighbor, Bill Farris, a blues scholar who worked with noted folklorist Alan Lomax and founded the Center for the Study of Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi, recorded a number of Delta blues artists in his home, including Skip James.

Zac started his professional career at age sixteen, playing guitar with Sam Myers, a friend of his father’s. Two years later he was playing with Dorothy Moore, Z.Z. Hill and other well-known blues artists who were passing through on regional tours.

In the early eighties, at age 21, he moved to Los Angeles to take a real shot at the music business. He worked as a studio musician at first and eventually established a very successful career as a songwriter and producer. He worked on major films, television shows, and well-known national commercials, even being hired at one point by Michael Jackson as a staff writer for his publishing company. Harmon wrote songs for the likes of Evelyn “Champagne” King, Freddie Jackson, the Whispers, K-Ci & Jo Jo, and the O’Jays. He also produced songs for reggae band Black Uhuru’s Mystical Truth album, which received a Grammy nomination in 1994.

After composing and performing some blues songs for a movie score, Harmon felt compelled to pursue his longtime dream of returning to his roots and recording his first blues project. The result was 2003’s Live at Babe & Ricky’s Inn, an electrifying testimony to Mississippi blues, which showcased the sound at its best and introduced Harmon as a true torchbearer for the “next generation of the Blues.” In 2004, Harmon and his band, the Mid South Blues Revue, sponsored by the Southern California Blues Society, traveled to Memphis and won the Blues Foundation’s prestigious International Blues Challenge title of “Best Unsigned Band.”

His next release, in 2005, was The Blues According To Zacariah, which garnered major national airplay, including XM, Sirius and the American Blues Network. XM listeners voted Harmon “Best New Blues Artist” in the inaugural XM Nation Awards in 2005. In 2006, Harmon won the coveted Blues Music Award for “Best New Artist Debut” for The Blues According to Zacariah. Later that year, he was featured in Blues Revue magazine as one of the 10 artists that “represent the future of the blues,” calling him a “latter-day Eric Clapton or Robert Cray with shades of Luther Allison and BB King.”

Zac Harmon entertained U.S. troops in Iraq and Kuwait in 2008 as one the stars of Bluzapalooza and while headlining “The Pizza & Pyramid Tour” of Sicily, Italy and Cairo, Egypt in late 2009, Harmon and company made history with a rare performance at site of the Great Pyramid and the Sphinx, making the ensemble only the second blues act to do so; Louis Armstrong being the first.

In 2008, he released Shot in the Kill Zone in Europe, which was recorded live at the Lionel Hampton Room in Paris. He then signed with the Northern Blues label for his third and much-anticipated U.S. album, From the Root, which was released April 2009. Living Blues said, “It takes a truly gifted artist to go in as many directions over the course of a single CD as Harmon does here and still retain a sense of coherence. For that alone, this is a pretty remarkable outing—but the real treat is the quality of the music itself, from beginning to end.”

Also in 2009, Zac was honored for his career achievements in his beloved hometown at the Jackson Music Awards, and weeks later in Nashville, the Jus’ Blues Music Foundation bestowed the “Little Milton” Guitar Award for “Outstanding Guitar Player” upon him. That same year Harmon branched out into acting, with a major role in the independent feature film Black and Blue, released in 2010.

Zac was a featured performer for the 2010 “Mississippi Celebrates its “Grammy Legacy” celebration, hosted by Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour, where he was presented with a Peavey Award, which honors the state’s many Grammy winners and nominees as well as individuals who have played a significant role in developing and furthering Mississippi’s musical heritage.

Harmon released his next album, Music Is Medicine, in 2012. Blues Bytes called it an “album of his exciting brand of blues, which mixes elements of soul, funk, gospel and R&B effortlessly, and this latest disc ranks as his best so far.”

Since then he’s been on a roll, becoming one of the blues’ strongest live performers, thrilling fans everywhere from Memphis to Mumbai. His live performances combine elements of everything that influenced him: soul-blues, gospel, reggae, and modern blues-rock.

BluesWax said of a festival appearance, “Harmon’s stage show is like a Blues symphony where he segues from one song to the next without a moment’s hesitation, building a head of steam that is orgasmic. Mixing classic boogie gliders with originals, he builds a West Side guitar sound that’s almost as sweet and simultaneously rough as classic Magic Sam into a showcase presentation that takes a lot of pages from Buddy Guy as far as dynamics. His hour on stage went by in an instant.”

In another live review, Jazz Now said, “His show affirmed all the hoopla that surrounds those dubbed as the hottest new act… Soulful vocals, breathtaking showmanship… His flashy guitar style belies the solid sound that he radiated on every tune, admirably backed by a fantastic band.”

With Right Man Right Now Harmon finally brings that excitement to a brand new CD, his bluesiest ever. Addressing issues straight from today’s headlines, Zac presents them in a fresh original style built on the best blues tradition. And he has some incredibly talented musicians helping him – guests include Bobby Rush, Lucky Peterson, Anson Funderburgh and Mike Finnegan.

The album provides definitive proof that Zac Harmon is indeed the right man to firmly establish all that blues can and should be right now in the second decade of the new millennium.

Biography courtesy https://www.zacharmon.com/

Saturday, August 4 at 8:30 p.m.
RBF Main Stage

As a true “Son of the Blues”, Bernard possesses the requisite guitar feel and vocal intonations necessary to propel his blues to the next century. He delivers the energy level essential to captivate audiences and indulges showmanship and spontaneity to drive his performance in fresh, innovative directions each night.

“In order for anything to expand, you have to take a risk,” says Bernard. “Blues is about experimenting and getting your feelings across to someone else. And if you want to keep it going, people are going to have to give it all a chance because we’re losing all of our creators. Because I’ve been taking risks on every album I’ve recorded, Chills And Thrills is just a logical progression from everting else I’ve done. Instead of playing rippin’ 12 bar blues guitar over and over, there are bluesy songs, soul, funk, R&B songs and a couple of rock things which shoes the overall musicianship of Bernard Allison.”

After 17 years of recording experience, Bernard has perfected his sound. Instead of just using his guitar, Bernard has become the mature artist, who uses the full palate of music colors in his band to paint his stories. If there ever was a CD for all occasions, this is it.

It’s has the chill songs to curl up with on a rainy day, or the thrill music you’ll blast when you are driving late at night. By adding the rhythm guitar of Bernard’s guitar soulmate Eric Gales, every song explodes into a guitar player’s head trip. The title cut opens the record with Bernard’s trademark funk meets blues sound, that signature sound permeates other tunes like “Compromising For Your Need”, “Heart of St. Paul” and “Groove With Me”, Bernard’s treatise on the modernesque blues blues he’ll continue to play around the world. But Bernard ‘s got so much more. On “So Devine” Bruce McCabe’s piano and Jose James’ alto sax steal the show. On “Just Me and My Guitar”, Bernard shows off the frantic slide techniques he learned from Johnny Winter. For slow blues, Bernard and pianist Rusty Hall turn in a first rate guitar and piano performance on “That’s Why I’m Crying”. But any fan of Bernard Allison knows that every show or record comes with one of his fathers songs. Here, Bernard reprises Luther’s 1980s tune “Serious”, played with Bernard’s eerie, Luther-like vocal attack. In addition, Bernard strips “Serious” down to just piano and guitar in his after hours closer.

Amid all the daily pop culture pressures to be the next American Idol , why does Bernard stay rooted in the Blues? “The blues are my roots. Regardless of how far outside of the blues I reach for tones, I can’t ever leave the blues. Whenever I play, all those guitar parts are Luther Allison coming through me. My dad was the same way, he wasn’t all Blues. He loved Otis Redding and Chuck Berry. I’m just showing where my influences come from while respecting the people who got me to this point.”

In 2010 Bernard released his 15th album The Otherside. This album showcases Bernard’s own uniques sound that he has developed over the years, a rocking-funky interpretation of the blues. Recorded in Minnesota and produced by David Z, this album has presented as one of Bernard’s all-time greatest releases. The sound on this album is really cool, laid back and relaxed with a special surprise. “Born In The Boyou” is a song Bernard and sung and guitar playing with the legendary Lonnie Brooks. The Brooks family is very close to Bernard’s heart and this is a special tribute to the blues man Bernard also admires. The Otherside is a thoroughly enjoyable album in itself, which should inspire not only the inveterate fans.

Touring is a big part of Bernard Allison and his group of musicians, they tour 150 shows per year and in Bernards own words “Blues is to convey emotions but also it’s about experimenting with different grooves and sounds in relation to me this means: instead of reproducing the familiar patterns over and over again there are bluesy, even soulful, funky and rock interpretations to bring to the blues. That fascination of the sound develops mainly when I’m on stage”. That’s what the Bernard Allison group exhibits on stage at the Jazzhaus DVD recording of Live At The Jazzhous. This album which was recorded and filmed at The Jazzhaus in Freiburg Germany November 2010 and was released in January of 2011 on the Jazzhaus record label. Live At The Jazzhaus is the best product to get an impression of the excellent quality of the Bernard Allison Group. The recording has original compositions of Chills And Thrills, The Otherside and songs written by Bernards father Luther Allison.

Biography courtesy https://www.bernardallison.com/

Saturday, August 4 at 6:45 p.m.
RBF Main Stage

Johnny Sansone started out early playing music. His father, a saxophonist who’d been in Dave Brubeck’s band during World War II, introduced him to the saxophone at age 8. Johnny picked up the guitar and harmonica by the time he was 10, and had a life changing experience at 12 when he saw a Howlin’ Wolf show in Florida. That was the moment the young Sansone knew he was destined to play the blues as his lifetime vocation. He sat in with Honeyboy Edwards at 13. During the 1970s Sansone studied with blues harmonica legends James Cotton and Jr. Wells. In the 1980s he toured with Ronnie Earl, John Lee Hooker, Jimmy Rodgers and Robert Lockwood Jr.

Sansone led the life of an itinerant bluesman, traveling around the country from temporary bases in Colorado, Austin, Florida and Chicago before settling down in New Orleans in 1990. As leader of Jumpin’ Johnny & the Blues Party, Sansone played harmonica and guitar in the fierce Mississippi delta blues style heard on his 1987 debut Where Y’at? and his1991 release Mister Good Thing.

Living in New Orleans brought a swamp rock tinge to his gruff vocals and emotional playing style, and after attending a wake for Zydeco pioneer Clifton Chenier Sansone started playing accordion as well. By the time of 1996’s Crescent City Moon Sansone had developed into a full fledged Louisiana artist, combining blues, boogie and the frontporch Cajun and Zydeco sounds of the Louisiana bayou country.

Crescent City Moon won multiple Best of the Beat awards that year and Sansone was signed to Rounder Records’ Bullseye Blues subsidiary, which also released his 1999 followup Watermelon Patch. During the early ‘00s Sansone played in a variety of settings, including a trio with pianist Joe Krown and guitarist John Fohl which released a recording in 2004.

At the beginning of 2005 Sansone joined the Voice of the Wetlands Allstars, a group of Louisiana bandleaders who wanted to draw attention to the disappearing wetlands and the destruction of the Louisiana coastline. By the time the record was released later that year New Orleans was underwater – the city flooded when its levee system broke down under the onslaught of the flood surge accompanying hurricane Katrina. “The record was designed to be a warning about what might happen,” said Sansone.

“Then it became a matter of I-told-you-so.”

Sansone was forced from his home when New Orleans was depopulated in the months after the flood and went on tour with the Voice of the Wetlands Allstars. He developed a lasting friendship with fellow VOW member Anders Osborne and began writing great songs about the Louisiana experience tempered by the emotions of watching the city being destroyed and slowly returning to life. Osborne produced Sansone’s next album, the 2007 release Poor Man’s Paradise. Sansone reached a new level of songwriting skills on this record, and the title track became a staple of the Voice of the Wetlands live performances.

In 2009 Sansone formed an acoustic trio with Osborne and guitarist John Fohl. The idea was they would play a regular Tuesday night show at Chickie Wah Wah to work on new songs. It was an explosive period of creativity for Osborne, who developed the songs on his masterful American Patchwork album during these sessions. But it was also a time of creative breakthroughs for Sansone, who wrote the breathtaking blues “The Lord Is Waiting and the Devil is Too” during these sessions. That song became the title track of his next album, another Osborne-produced venture. To this day it’s hard for Sansone to get through a gig without a fan calling out for “that Devil song!” “The Lord Is Waiting and the Devil is too” was named Song of the Year at the Blues Music Awards.

Sansone continued to pen his unique brand of Louisiana story songs on his next album, Once It gets Started, which featured a memorable account of the fire that destroyed the Hubig’s Pie factory, “The Night the Pie Factory Burned Down.” His latest release, Lady On the Levee, another Osborne production, this time featuring Fohl as well as Jefferey Bridges on bass, Rob Lee on drums, Joe Cabral on baritone saxophone and Ivan Neville on keyboards.

The album rocks with the powerful boogie of “OZ Radio,” a tribute to New Orleans roots music radio station WWOZ. Sansone’s howling, rip-through-the-plaster voice and deep grooved harmonica riffs are the main attractions, but hard core fans will appreciate the wit and wisdom of his character songs, Louisiana stories like the title track, “Gertrude’s Property Line” and “One Of Us,” (“he ain’t no tourist attraction/he’s one of us”). This is Sansone’s most personal album as well. You can hear him struggling with some deep emotions on songs like “I’m Still Here” “Lightning Bug Rhodes” and “Tomato Wine.”

Biography courtesy https://www.johnnysansone.com/

Saturday, August 4 at 5:30 p.m.
RBF Main Stage

2018 Grammy award nominee and “America’s Hottest Accordion” winner, Dwayne Dopsie plays a high energy zydeco that keeps you wanting more . Dwayne hails from one of the most influential Zydeco families in the world Although inspired by tradition, he has developed his own high energy style that defies existing stereotypes and blazes a refreshingly distinct path for 21st century Zydeco music.

Dwayne, born March 3, 1979 in Lafayette, Louisiana, was the last of eight children. Dwayne attributes his musical abilities to his father, Rockin’ Dopsie, Sr., a pioneer of Zydeco music. As a small child, Dwayne was interested in the washboard, but quickly realized he had incredible talent with an accordion. He has played the accordion since age seven and states, “This is my calling – Zydeco music is in my blood and it is my heart and soul.” As a tribute to his late father, the most influential person in his life, Dwayne plans to record an album of his Dad’s greatest Zydeco hits.

This singer/songwriter and accordionist has performed in 40 countries and also in hundreds of cities across the United States , Europe, Brazil , Panama and Canada since debuting his band at age 19.

Dopsie and the Zydeco Hellraisers has been on Rollinstone’s magazine, Big City Blues magazine cover , Good morning America , CBS this morning, travel channel , Food Network , Jamie Kennedy experiment , Soul Bag magazine and Offbeat magazine

Because of the energy and power of the music they play, he has been winning different OFF BEAT MAGAZINE AWARDS for the last 6 years for best accordion, best zydeco artist, best zydeco band and best zydeco album.

September 2016, he was on “Louisiana Rising” with Harry Connick Jr and Randy Jackson, performing their song for the flood victims called “Rollercoaster” which is one of the songs on their new cd, ” Top of the Mountain” released in 2017 .

And most recently Dwayne Dopsie and the Zydeco Hellraisers was nominated for a 2018 Grammy award, for the Best Regional Roots Music Album.

Dwayne Dopsie and The Zydeco Hellraisers not only pump out incredible Zydeco music, but the incredible showman and interaction with the crowd and the rhythm and blues in there music makes it a performance not to miss!!!!

Biography courtesy https://dwaynedopsie.com/

Saturday, August 4 at 3:15 p.m.
RBF Main Stage

Robert Kimbrough Sr. continues the Cotton Patch Soul Blues style created by his father, the legendary Junior Kimbrough. From an early age, Robert was steeped in the sounds and life of North Mississippi and its distinctive styles of blues. Growing up, Robert listened first-hand to Mississippi blues royalty that played with his father at home, at Junior’s juke joint club, as well as the ever frequent weekend house parties and porch jam sessions. The blues was simply part of everyday life as a Kimbrough. Robert continues his father’s tradition, along with some of his siblings on his father’s side. You can often find many of them sharing the stage on any given night in Mississippi. The Kimbrough name, along with the Burnside name, is part of a blues dynasty that remains strong today, bringing people from all over the world to see and hear them play.

The Cotton Patch Soul Blues style that Robert plays is a straight link to the music that his father originated in North Mississippi. It is a deep soul sound that can be linked back to the sounds of his ancestors coming from the cotton fields as field hands, singing out as they worked in the rows of Mississippi cotton. This distinct and somewhat underground style of blues is rooted in a foundation of hypnotic, droning rhythms and extremely dance-able drum beats. This style and musical vibe, was best heard in the smoky, hidden juke joints of lore. Up until the mid 80s, the only way to hear this music was to visit a church-turned-blues-den founded by Junior Kimbrough in Chulahoma, MS that unfortunately burned down in 2000.

Robert Kimbrough Sr.’s musical journey started at an early age and took him to Aurora, Illinois where he lived and played for a few years. He then returned to Holly Springs, MS to play with his dad and focus on his music, as well tour with Junior in 1996. Shortly after, he wrote all the tracks for his first release, Willey Woot. Robert became focused solely on sharing his families unique style of cotton patch soul blues under his new moniker – Blues Connection – as one of the hardest working guys in the blues business.

Robert Kimbrough Sr. Blues Connection can be seen on the Mississippi blues series “Mojo Hands and Moonshine,” Episode 2: Paul MacLeod Has Left.

Biography courtesy http://robertkimbroughsr.com/

Saturday, August 4 at 12:00 noon
RBF Main Stage

Featuring Jeffrey Attakorah, Anna McLaughlin, Jon Hay & Zach Lees

Saturday, August 4 at 1:30 p.m.
RBF Main Stage

The Backtrack Blues Band is one of Florida’s longest running and most accomplished blues bands. Founded in 1980, the group has performed continuously for over 30 years. Backtrack’s high energy Chicago-style blues with exceptional guitar, harp, and vocals, has made the band a constant on the Florida blues concert, club, and festival scene for over three decades.

The group has established a strong reputation for creative songwriting and has released five CDs and a DVD of original music, all of which charted on the U.S. blues radio charts. The band released its newest CD, “Way Back Home,” in 2016, and it represents Backtrack’s best recording to date. The record is receiving international radio play and has positioned the band to gain a much wider following. In the words of Art Tipaldi, Editor of Blues Music Magazine, “On its fifth CD, ‘Way Back Home’, the first class band has recorded one of its strongest traditional blues recordings to date and is now poised to carry its musical message to a larger audience.”

The quintet consists of Sonny Charles on harmonica and vocals, Kid Royal on lead guitar and vocals, Little Johnny Walter on rhythm guitar and vocals, Stick Davis on bass, and Joe Bencomo on drums. Backtrack has appeared as an opening act in concert with many legendary blues artists including B.B. King, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Buddy Guy, Gregg Allman, Robert Cray, Johnny Winter, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, and others. The group has also been recognized by the Tampa Bay community as a leader in the blues music arena by garnering three Tampa Bay Music Awards as the area’s “Best Blues Band.”

The band members are serious students of blues music and bring a lot of authenticity and talent to the group. Sonny Charles and Little Johnny formed the band in 1980 and have played together for over 35 years. Sonny is an accomplished blues harmonica player, whose tone and style are reminiscent of Little Walter and Paul Butterfield. Kid Royal has appeared at many major blues festivals throughout Canada and America, and his style is influenced by the great Texas guitar players. He is widely respected as one of the very top guitarists in Florida.

Joe Bencomo is an exceptional drummer, who has played in the best blues and jazz bands in Tampa Bay for over 40 years. Little Johnny adds solid rhythm guitar and backup vocals to the band. Stick Davis is a gifted bass player, and he was a founding member of the Amazing Rhythm Aces and has traveled the world, touring with BB King, John Mayall, Al Green, Jesse Winchester, Pure Prairie League, and others.

Together, these guys comprise one of Florida’s best and most accomplished blues bands, and their live show is an original and exciting display of electric blues at its very best! The band’s leader has significant experience in producing top quality blues music shows, having founded and managed the award-winning Tampa Bay Blues Festival for over 20 years.

Biography courtesy http://www.backtrackbluesband.com/

Friday, August 3 at 8:30 p.m.
RBF Main Stage

SAMANTHA FISH
“Belle of the West”
Ruf Records / Release Date: November 3, 2017

“You should always get outside of the box,” Samantha Fish says while discussing her boundary-breaking new album Belle of the West. “Challenging yourself is how you grow.”

After launching her recording career in 2009, Samantha Fish quickly established herself as a rising star in the contemporary blues world. Since then, the charismatic young singer-guitarist-songwriter has earned a reputation as a rising guitar hero and powerful live performer, while releasing a series of acclaimed albums that have shown her restless creative spirit consistently taking her in new and exciting musical directions.

The New York Times called Fish “an impressive blues guitarist who sings with sweet power” and “one of the genre’s most promising young talents.” Her hometown paper The Kansas City Star noted, “Samantha Fish has kicked down the door of the patriarchal blues club” and observed that the young artist “displays more imagination and creativity than some blues veterans exhibit over the course of their careers.”

Having already made it clear that she’s more interested in following her heart than she is in repeating past triumphs, Samantha Fish delivers some of her most compelling music to date with Belle of the West, her fifth studio album. The deeply soulful, personally charged 11-song set showcases Fish’s sublime acoustic guitar skills as well as her rootsy, emotionally resonant songwriting.

Such memorable new originals as “American Dream,” “Blood in the Water,” “Need You More” and “Don’t Say You Love Me” demonstrate the artist’s knack for organic Americana songcraft, while a trio of cover tunes—R.L. Burnside’s “Poor Black Mattie,” Lillie Mae’s “Nearing Home” and the Jimbo Mathus-penned title track—attest to her substantial interpretive skills as well as her varied musical interests.

“To me, this is a natural progression,” Fish notes. “It’s a storytelling record by a girl who grew up in the Midwest. It’s very personal. I really focused on the songwriting and vocals, the melodies and emotion, and on bringing another dimension to what I do. I wasn’t interested in shredding on guitar, although we ended up with a few heavier tracks. I love Mississippi blues; there’s something very soulful and very real about that style of music, so this was a chance to immerse myself in that.”

Fish recorded Belle of the West in the relaxed, rural creative atmosphere of the legendary Zebra Ranch Studios in the North Hills of Mississippi with producer Luther Dickinson (of North Mississippi Allstars fame), with whom she worked previously on her 2015 album Wild Heart. The studio team included some of the region’s most iconoclastic musicians, including Dickinson, solo artist and Jack White associate Lillie Mae (whose distinctive vocals are featured on “Nearing Home”), much-traveled juke-joint blues artist Lightnin’ Malcolm (whose featured on “Poor Black Mattie”), Squirrel Nut Zippers founder Jimbo Mathus, upright bassist and beloved solo artist Amy LaVere, Tikyra Jackson, Trina Raimey and Shardé Thomas, granddaughter of the legendary Southern bluesman Otha Turner.

“I wanted to do this acoustic-electric record, and tap into the style and swagger of Mississippi,” Fish states, adding, “Any time you dive into another place, another vibe and a new group of people, you’re challenging yourself to grow musically. I felt very at home a Zebra Ranch, and I’ve known Luther and Malcolm for years, so it was a very comfortable situation. When you’re making a record like this, it has to feel natural if you want people to respond to it.

Belle of the West follows on the heels of Fish’s March 2017 release Chills & Fever, which achieved top 10 status in the Billboard Blues charts. Here she expanded her stylistic arsenal to take on a set of lesser-known vintage R&B gems, with help from members of garage-soul stalwarts the Detroit Cobras. “Having these two very different records come out back to back this year has been really liberating,” says Samantha.

The creative drive that fuels Belle of the West and Chills & Fever has been a crucial element of Samantha Fish’s approach from the beginning. Growing up in a musical family in Kansas City, Missouri, she became obsessed with music early life, taking up drums before switching to guitar at the age of 15. By the time she was 20, she had formed her own trio and self-released her first album. She soon caught the ear of the renowned blues label Ruf Records, which in 2011 released Girls with Guitars, which teamed her with fellow axewomen Cassie Taylor and Dani Wilde. The same year saw Ruf release Fish’s solo studio debut Runaway. The album was named Best Artist Debut at the 2012 Blues Music Awards in Memphis.

Black Wind Howlin’ (2013) and Wild Heart (2015) followed, winning considerable critical acclaim and further establishing Fish as a prominent presence in the blues community. Wild Heart reached the top slot on Billboard’s blues chart. She also collaborated with blues-rock veterans Jimmy Hall and Reese Wynans on the 2013 project The Healers. The same year, she jammed onstage with blues icon Buddy Guy, and guested on Devon Allman’s album Turquoise.

Fish continues to maintain the same hardworking, prolific approach that’s carried her this far. “I think I’ve always had that,” she says. “Music is my life, so what other choice do I have but to go out and make music? We do tour quite a bit, and maybe it’s kind of crazy to put out two dramatically different albums in one year. But I like to work hard. This is who I am and this is what I do, and when I’m writing and recording and touring is when I feel the most like myself. And now we have a moment where people are paying attention, so I have to make the most of it. I feel like I have a lot to say right now, so why not say it?”

As far as Samantha Fish is concerned, her musical future is an open road. “I’m never gonna be a traditional blues artist, because that’s not who I am,” she asserts. “But it’s all the blues for me. When Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf came out, what they were doing didn’t sound like anything that had been done in blues before. You’ve gotta keep that kind of fire and spirit. I’m never gonna do Muddy Waters better than Muddy Waters, so I have to be who I am and find my best voice.

Biography courtesy http://www.samanthafish.com