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2020 Blues Festival Guide annual is shipping... order now!
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 Here's it is... our beautiful, soulful 2020 cover featuring Danielle Nicole by photographer Brita Brookes!
We know everyone is missing their live Blues! We feel your pain and we also understand there are fewer chances for you to pick up a 2020 Blues Festival Guide! Order and you can get your 2020 Blues Festival Guide magazine mailed to you!
We're shipping now and can mail your copy straight to your U.S. home or P.O. Box for $9 US & Canada and $14 Overseas.
Here's the link to order your personal copy or give us a call to place your order at 707-630-3304.
Along with blues festival, artist and label ads, blues society and blues radio listings, we feature interesting editorial like: What’s Cookin’ with Victor Wainwright, A King And A Duke by Rev. Billy C. Wirtz, Jammin’ On The High C’s: On Board the Legendary Rhythm & Blues Cruise By Mitch Woods, Living Legend: Charlie Musselwhite by Eric Steiner, Reel Away The Blues by Roger Stolle and more ...Find more details
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Photo Moments with the BFG Magazine!!
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When you get your 2020 Blues Festival Guide (BFG) magazine don't forget to take a fun shot with it and/or with whomever and send to us! Have some fun... we'll feature photos with the annual BFG throughout the year.
Here's some photos of the BFG staff from top Lt-Rt: Kaati (Blues Festival Guide Publisher) and Michael "Sully" Sullivan (Blues Music Magazine Publisher) ©Donovan Allen taken in Clarksdale, MS in front of Ground Zero Blues Club during BMA week; BFG Sales Manager Cheryl O'Grady-Yearnshaw with the late blues, soul queen Denise LaSalle during 2017 BMA week in Memphis, TN; award-winning harmonica master, singer, bandleader Rick Estrin with BFG e-Guide Editor Michele Lundeen at Gator By The Bay in San Diego, CA 2016; BFG Sales rep Tom Andrews and BFG rep Belinda Holloway at the 2019 King Biscuit Blues Festival; Rick Rudd and Heather Penrod-Rudd (BFG Sales and Distribution) at the 2014 San Felipe Blues & Arts Fiesta in San Felipe, Baja, Mexico; and BFG magazine Editor Irene Johnson.
*NOTE! This Spring our annual edition is being sent to select festivals, blues societies and a few distributors plus we are also encouraging individual subscribers because of the unusual conditions of the Pandemic. Once you get yours, have fun and SNAP PHOTOS of you, your friends, and/or artists, etc. with your annual and EMAIL your photo with caption & photo credit to your e-Guide editor!
**Want more info or your own hard copy? Go to this page!
We're proud the Blues Foundation is official sponsor of our 2020 Blues Festival Guide annual magazine.
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Featured Video of the Week
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Samantha Fish - Either Way I Lose / Somebody's Always Trying
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CD & DVD Releases (not reviews)
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Hudspeth & Taylor :: FOLIE A DEUX
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 On their debut album, Folie a Deux, Brandon Hudspeth and Jaisson Taylor put a new spin on acoustic blues by bringing in elements of classic rock, soul and so much more. Guitarist Brandon Hudspeth and singer/percussionist Jaisson Taylor have known each other for almost 20 years from the Kansas City blues scene, but the two didn't begin to collaborate until 2015. “A place here in Kansas City asked me if I could do a duo,” Hudspeth explains, “so I asked Jaisson. That evolved into a weekly thing – we got a following and it went from there. We started doing pretty heavy Hill Country stuff – lots of distorted guitar. After about a year we just switched to the all-acoustic thing – there was no real reason behind it, it just worked out that way.”
While Hudspeth handles all the guitars, Taylor employs a diverse array of percussion from cajon [a box form of African drum] to washboard to add multiple dimensions to their sound. “The way we ended up using different styles and keeping it acoustic at the same time just seemed to happen naturally. There’s definitely some modern tendencies to it, and I think that’s important. All the different percussion is one of the things that lent itself to being all-acoustic. Jaisson’s played all those things from the beginning and our sound has just naturally evolved. There's one thing replacing something else every time we play – it's ever changing. The cajon is always there, that’s where it all started.”
The final dimension that sets the duo apart from so many others is Taylor’s dynamic four octave voice. I like to think about the lyric and color it from different points in my voice. I do a lot of my own harmonies and try to get different characters with things like the base parts in falsetto – even get a feminine tone to avoid repetition. A lot of it comes from interplay with what Brandon’s doing on guitar.”
If you look it up in a medical textbook, Folie a Deux is a shared psychosis or a group hallucination – in the hands of Hudspeth & Taylor it’s an excursion into musical passion.
 "Walking Down The Road"
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Brother Robert: Growing Up with Robert Johnson
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 This intimate memoir by blues legend Robert Johnson’s 94 year-old stepsister Annye C. Anderson written with Preston Lauterbach, includes new details about his family, music, influences, tragic death, and musical afterlife.
The recent unveiling of the cover photo shows only the third verified picture of him in existence that has come to light thanks to Mrs. Anderson. The book will be published June 9 by Hachette Book Group.
Though only twenty-seven years young and relatively unknown at the time of his tragic death in 1938, Robert Johnson’s enduring recordings have solidified his status as a progenitor of the Delta Blues style. And yet, while his music has retained the steadfast devotion of modern listeners, much remains unknown about the man who penned and played these timeless tunes. Few people alive today actually remember what Johnson was really like, and those who do have largely upheld their silence – until now.
In Brother Robert, nonagenarian Annye Anderson sheds new light on a real-life figure largely obscured by his own legend: her kind and incredibly talented stepbrother, Robert Johnson. This book chronicles Johnson’s unconventional path to stardom – from the harrowing story behind his illegitimate birth, to his first strum of the guitar on Anderson’s father’s knee, to the genre-defining recordings that would one day secure his legacy.
Along the way, Anderson not only shares personal anecdotes, but also colorful recollections of Johnson passed down by members of their family – the people who knew him best. She also outlines the contours of Johnson’s working life in Memphis, never-before-disclosed details about his romantic history, and all of his favorite things, from foods and entertainers to brands of tobacco and pomade. Together, these stories don’t just bring the mythologized Johnson back down to earth; they preserve both his memory and his integrity.
For decades, Anderson and her family have ignored the tall tales of Johnson “selling his soul to the devil” and the speculative to fictionalized accounts of his life that passed for biography. Brother Robert is here to set the record straight.
Featuring a foreword by Elijah Wald and a Q&A with Anderson, Preston Lauterbach, Elijah Wald, and Peter Guralnick, this book paints a vivid portrait of an elusive figure who forever changed the musical landscape as we know it.
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Funky Biscuit Opens Memorial Day Weekend with Zito, Castiglia, Soars, and Davis
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 (BOCA RATON, FL) - The Funky Biscuit reopens with a band to present a killer blues rockin’ Memorial Day Weekend featuring Mike Zito and Albert Castiglia for two nights with 2 Shows each evening on Saturday, May 23 and Sunday, May 24. Showtimes are 6pm and 9pm. Tickets: $80-$240. 303 SE Mizner Blvd., Boca Raton, Florida, or call (561) 395-2929. Purchase tickets here.
The gritty, expressive, versatile JP Soars is special guest performer on May 23 and roots-blues-rocker Shaw Davis is the special guest performer May 24.
Mike Zito is one of the hardest-working, most recognizable names in the world of blues. When he’s not producing albums for the artists on his Gulf Coast Records label, the St. Louis native is touring throughout the U.S. and Europe (he was on a 30-city European Tour this past March when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, forcing the cancellation of his entire tour). The result was the recording of the Pandemic Blues.
Blues-rockin’ guitarist/singer/songwriter Albert Castiglia’s current album, Wild and Free, just released April 7, was recorded live at The Funky Biscuit. This in-your-face live performance captures the energy and guitar mastery that Castiglia shares with his audiences each time he takes the stage. His 2019 album Masterpiece on Gulf Coast Records, just won the 2020 Blues Music Award in the category of Blues Rock Album of the Year!
Stephens).
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Carolina Blues Festival Collaborates with Folk Festival for Sept 11-13, 2020
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(GREENSBORO, NC) -The North Carolina Folk Festival and the Piedmont Blues Preservation Society announce a unique collaboration to present the 34th Carolina Blues Festival as part of the annual Folk Festival the weekend of September 11-13, 2020.
Piedmont Blues Preservation Society president Atiba Berkley, and North Carolina Folk Festival president & CEO Amy Grossmann, began discussing the opportunity to join forces in late March as public health and economic developments resulting from COVID-19 were beginning to have a profound effect on the arts and events industries worldwide.
“As producers of events that bring people together in celebration of cultural expression, we carry a responsibility to provide a safe, entertaining, culturally relevant, inclusive environment for the artists and audiences that are the heart and soul of our work,” Berkley and Grossmann announced in a joint statement. “Our decision to collaborate on a unified festival will allow our organizations to share resources, fulfill our like-minded cultural missions, and together lift up our community through the power of music.”
The Piedmont Blues Preservation Society has produced the Carolina Blues Festival for 34 years making it the longest continuous Blues festival in the southeast. The 34th Carolina Blues Festival was originally scheduled to take place on May 16 and 17, 2020. ...More details here
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Donation brings a bit of Mardi Gras to hospital workers
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NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Emily Bauman is a believer in the power of music. So when she got her stimulus check, she put that power to work – for New Orleans’s hospital workers and the city’s out-of-work musicians.
Bauman and a friend funded the stimulus serenade, a concert for front-line health care workers in one of the nation’s coronavirus hot spots, and a paying gig for musicians who badly need one.
Health care workers in masks and hair coverings hoisted umbrellas and waved handkerchiefs, danced and clapped as nine members of the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra performed outside New Orleans East Hospital. They played “Do Whatcha Wanna” and “Hot Sausage Rag” and Paul Barbarin’s “Second Line.”
In a city known for music and good times, last Friday’s serenade was a balm for difficult ones.
“This was fantastic therapy for us and our staff,” said Takeisha Charles Davis, a doctor at the hospital and among those dancing there on Friday. “The last 8 1/2 weeks have been tremendously stressful.”
Their benefactor is not even a local resident. A professor, classical pianist and jazz enthusiast, Bauman lives in New York City. (An anonymous friend also donated a stimulus check to the project.)
Read full story at WGXA TV
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‘Harlem of the West’: Oakland’s once-bustling jazz and blues scene along Seventh Street
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By Lisa Hix | Bay City News
Before 2015, East Bay commuters traveling to San Francisco on BART could look forward to passing the vibrant, unforgettable sign for Esther’s Orbit Room every morning. It featured the name “Esthers” in saucy red script and “Orbit Room” in purple space-age bubble letters, a cheerful orange rocket taking off from the “T.”
The Orbit Room sign was the last vestige of a once-bustling African American business district. Between the 1940s and ’60s, Seventh Street in West Oakland was the center of black life and culture in the city. During the day, it was the place for African Americans to buy groceries, stop by the pharmacy or have lunch, all at black-owned stores.
At night, it was a lively blues music scene, competing with San Francisco’s Fillmore District for the title of “Harlem of the West,” boasting performances by Billie Holiday, Aretha Franklin, and Sammy Davis Jr. But like so many thriving black neighborhoods in the late-20th century, economic and political forces came together to gut it in a few short decades.
Today, if you look around Seventh Street with its vacant land and parking lots in the shadow of the BART tracks, it’s hard to picture its glory days. Ronnie Stewart, the executive director of the West Coast Blues Society, has been fighting tirelessly since 1989 to preserve the street’s musical legacy. “Seventh Street was the center of black entertainment for the West Coast,” Stewart says. “The clubs were lined up on both sides.”
His organization worked with the city of Oakland to secure funding for “The Music They Played on 7th Street: Oakland Walk of Fame,” acknowledging the musicians, club owners, record companies, and businesses that made the street a creative force. The first 88 brass Walk of Fame plaques were unveiled in March 2015. Another 88 plaques were installed on sidewalks earlier this year, but the unveiling ceremonies planned for April 3 and 4 had to be canceled due to the Coronavirus pandemic. ...Read full story at Bay City News
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Chasing The Blues Podcast
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Tom "The Suit" Forst Presents
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SEASON 2 / EPISODE 5:
Tom The Suit Forst chats with "King of Biker Blues" Pat Savage. The musician and recording artist, accomplished filmmaker, actor, and life-long motorcyclist discusses his deep friendship with Jeff Healey and being discovered by Albert Collins. Pat also talks about his world travels, filming a motorcycle travel television show.
LISTEN HERE:
Spreaker
SEASON 2 / EPISODE 6:
 Tom catches up with guitarist Seth James, who makes his second appearance on the podcast. Authenticity and originality don’t always make for the most compatible bedfellows. Indeed, paying reverence to one’s roots sometimes moots the possibility of finding contemporary credence. Happily though, in the case of the Texas born and bred singer/songwriter Seth James, all those elements find equal footing.
LISTEN HERE:
Spreaker
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Chasing the Blues Podcast has weekly episodes sharing interesting stories of the original bluesmen, the pioneers of the art form, as told through personal interviews with players from around the world: some famous in their own right, recording and touring artists, veteran sidemen, and rising new talent.
Chasing the Blues is proudly sponsored by Blues Festival Guide, which Bobby Rush calls the "road map to the blues." Chasing the Blues is also sponsored and produced by Factory Underground Studio in Norwalk, CT.
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Which Legendary Rhythm & Blues Cruise Hits Your Groove?
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Our Artists & Headliners Stay & Play, They Don’t Hit & Run!!
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100+ scheduled shows on 6 stages. Multiple shows by each artist, pro jams, land events, autograph sessions, artist workshops and much more…
NOW BOOKING: LRBC #35 Southern Caribbean: Oct 25-Nov 1, 2020
from Ft. Lauderdale, FL to Willemstad, Curacao; Oranjestad, Aruba & Half Moon Cay (Bahamas Private Island) on Holland America’s ms Eurodam. Limited Cabins Remain - Book your cabin before they’re gone! Visit Reservations or call (816) 753-7979.
Artist Lineup: Taj Mahal & Phantom Blues Band, Keb’ Mo’, Elvin Bishop’s Big Fun Trio, Charlie Musselwhite, Ruthie Foster Six, Tab Benoit, Walter Trout, Tommy Castro & the Painkillers, Kenny Neal Band w/Tyree Neal, G. Love & Special Sauce, Shemekia Copeland, Danielle Nicole, Johnny Rawls, Rev. Peyton’s Big Damn Band, Vanessa Collier, Marquise Knox, Shakura S'Aida, RUF Records Blues Caravan, Jonathon Long, Doug MacLeod, Mitch Woods Club 88, Rev. Billy C. Wirtz, Kelley Hunt, Daryl Davis, Eden Brent, Chuk Barber’s Soul Lounge, Mr. Sipp (Special Guest) & more! Full info @ https://bluescruise.com/35-oct-2020/
PUBLIC ON SALE LAUNCHES JUNE 8! LRBC #36 Eastern Caribbean: Jan 31-Feb 7, 2021 from Ft. Lauderdale, FL to Tortola, St. Thomas & Turks and Caicos on Holland America’s ms Nieuw Statendam! Visit Reservations or call (816) 753-7979 at 11am Central on June 8th to secure your stateroom. Visit Reservations or call (816) 753-7979.
Artist Lineup: Taj Mahal, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Booker T. Jones presents a Stax Revue, Legendary Rhythm & Blues Revue w/ Tommy Castro Band, Magic Dick, Deanna Bogart & Ronnie Baker Brooks, Tab Benoit's Swampland Jam w/Big Chief Monk Boudreaux, Johnny Sansone & Waylon Thibodeaux, Victor Wainwright & the Train w/Dave Gross, Anson Funderburgh & the Rockets w/ Darrell Nulisch & the Texas Horns, Mud Morganfield & His Allstar Chicago Band, Roomful of Blues, Tinsley Ellis, Coco Montoya, Southern Avenue, Toronzo Cannon, Joanne Shaw Taylor, John Németh & the Blue Dreamers, Mr. Sipp, Albert Castiglia, Keeshea Pratt Band, Kevin Burt, Rev. Billy C. Wirtz, HOROJO Trio, Leon Blue, Professor Louie w/Miss Marie & many more! Full info @ https://bluescruise.com/36-jan-2021-eastern-caribbean/
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LEGENDARY RHYTHM & BLUES CRUISE 313 Lawrence St., Kansas City, MO (816) 753-7979 | BluesCruise.com
- More Than A Cruise… More Than A Festival… More Than You Can Imagine! -
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 - Memorial Day May 25 "Lest We Forget"
- Amnesty Day International May 28
Birthdays upcoming of note:
May 21-Fats Waller (1904-1943), Dave Specter (1963), Billy Wright (1932-1991), Ronald Isley (1941); May 24- Bob Dylan (1941); May 25-Miles Davis (1926); May 26-Mamie Smith (1883–1946), Levon Helm (1940-2012); May 27-Junior Parker (1932-1971); May 28-Papa John Creech (1917-1989), T-Bone Walker (1910-1975), Gladys Knight (1944), Kaati (our BFG Owner/Publisher), John Fogarty (1945); Jun 3-Jimmy Rogers (1924-1997), Memphis Minnie (1897-1973), Curtis Mayfield (1942-1999), Heather Penrod-Rudd (BFG Sales Rep & Distribution Mgr); Jun 4-Tinsley Ellis (1957); Jun 8-James Harman (1946), Derek Trucks (1979); Jun 9-Jackie Wilson (1934–1984); Jun 10-Howlin' Wolf aka Chester Arthur Burnett (1910-1976)
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Missed your copy of the Weekly e-Guide?
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BFG Twitter-Instagram-Facebook
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Join Blues Freaks at our Tweeter feed & on Instagram
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Hey, come on over and Join over 13,000+ Blues Freaks at our TWITTER feed @BluesFestGuide
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  Also Follow us on INSTAGRAM See awesome, bluesy festival photos
from our team and fellow blues lovers!
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Get your Face in our Book
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Then please drop on by and"LIKE" us to get a daily dose of blues related stuff! ...
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Radio Submit Roots Blues Airplay Chart (click chart for more)
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Billboard Blues Album This week
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Billboard's Top 2 Blues Albums - Week of May 23, 2020
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 #EL DORADO
Marcus King
#2
KINGFISH
Christone "Kingfish" Ingram
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We've Got You Covered with Live Streams & Online Concerts
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Blues Festival Guide Magazine Media Platforms Feature Live Streams, Online Concerts & more
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The Blues Festival Guide platforms are fast becoming the main portal for blues live stream and blues online concert events.
As fast as an online event is announced, the Blues Festival Guide team makes the announcement and link go live in a special section on the top-ranking Blues Festival Guide Website, as well as on their social media platforms ( Facebook with 195,000 Followers, and Instagram @bluesfestguide with 6,000 Followers). This service is provided for free to the artist as well as the viewer.
Even though music festivals and clubs are on lockdown across the globe, there are loads of brand-new music and live concerts via live stream, both small and large, local and international, that can be watched from the safety of your couch on your own TV, computer or phone.
With almost 20 years of experience delivering blues music and blues music news around the world, Publisher Kaati Gaffney says, “We are experienced digital marketers specializing in live music events. During this time of pandemic, while festivals and events are virtual, it is our pleasure to provide this service.” ...Find more about BFG or to contact us to share your events
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To view entire calendar of festivals & Live Streams, click here!
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ATTENTION:
FESTIVAL PROMOTERS
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LIST YOUR FESTIVAL ON OUR
WEBSITE FOR FREE HERE
To ensure that your festival also appears here in the e-Guide Festival Calender EMAIL |
Not all upcoming blues festivals/events are listed here at certain times of the year due to space constraints. Unless highlighted, festivals are no longer inked due to increasing spam
For a complete list and links see our comprehensive website.
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NOTE: Highlighted/Linked events are paid "Featured" ads. For complete list & links go to our website Festival page!
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*CORONAVIRUS UPSETS:
Postponed means rescheduled or 2020 is still pending. Cancelled means some have picked dates for 2021. Please check the festival links on our site for most current updates
VIRTUAL
Live from Clarksdale
May-01-2020 - Jun-01-2020, Clarksdale, Mississippi, USA
Spring Fling Music Festival
May-30-2020
Mobile, Alabama, USA
POSTPONED
Blues Rules Crissier Festival
Jun-05-2020 - Jun-06-2020
Paris, France
Interstate Blues Fest
Jun-12-2020 - Jun-13-2020
Hagerstown, Maryland, USA
Chelsea Blues, Rhythm
& Rock Festival
Jun-13-2020
London, United Kingdom
Torrita Blues Festival 2020
Jun-18-2020 - Jun-20-2020
Torrita di Siena, Italy
Juneteenth Festival of Akron
Jun-19-2020 - Jun-21-2020
Akron, Ohio, USA
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please go to our website
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Crosby Zydeco Festival
Jun-26-2020 - Jun-28-2020
Crosby, Texas, USA
Prairie Dog Blues Festival
Jul-24-2020 - Jul-25-2020
Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, USA
Magic City Blues
Jul-30-2020 - Aug-01-2020
Billings, Montana, USA
Free Thursday’s
Summer Concert Series
Jul-02-2020 - Aug-27-2020
Norwich, New York, USA
TD Kitchener Blues Festival
Aug-06-2020 - Aug-09-2020
Kitchener, Ontario, Canada
Sunflower River Blues Festival
Aug-07-2020 - Aug-09-2020
Clarksdale, Mississippi, USA
20th Heritage Music BluesFest
Aug-07-2020 - Aug-09-2020
Wheeling, West Virginia, USA
Bloomington Boogies: The Bloomington Blues & Boogie Woogie Piano Festival
Aug-07-2020 - Aug-10-2020
Bloomington, Indiana, USA
New Blues Festival
Aug-08-2020 - Aug-09-2020
Long Beach, California, USA
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Please stay safe and optimistic!
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We are thinking of you and wishing you good health!
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RBA Publishing/Blues Festival Guide
P.O. Box 920, Arcata, CA 95518
Call 707-630-3304
RBA Publishing, Inc. in business since 1993, is a boutique blues-specific PR and marketing firm based on the West Coast. We help musicians, festivals, labels and music-related brands. Our digital campaigns target fans, industry and influencers. We are masterful at email marketing, social media, fan acquisition and long-term marketing plans. Our media services are supported by people who understand and love the blues genre. Publishers of annual the Blues Festival Guide magazine, our top-ranking website, and e-Guide newsletter with approx 30,000 weekly subscribers, we have been blues industry leaders for over 18 years. Please contact us at 707-630 3304 or EMAIL to findout how we can help you!
Information both editorial and advertising in the Blues Festival E-Guide is believed to be correct but not guaranteed. Double check info carefully before you attend any event or send money for anything. We do not do CD/DVD reviews nor write the news... we just share and report it.
We also welcome your e-Guide suggestions, critiques and questions. You can reach our E-Guide editor, Michele Lundeen via EMAIL.
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Hey blues lovers! Got 
