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Celebrating our 2022 Blues Festival Guide... order now!
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 It’s our 20th Anniversary edition of the Blues Festival Guide! Our 2022 cover by photographer Marilyn Stringer features the talented Tullie Brae and Calvin Johnson at the 2021 North Atlantic Blues Festival!
Order your copy now!!
The 2022 issue is shipping and full of the latest happenings in the industry, glimpses of blues history and, of course, blues festivals to plan your calendar! Here's an editorial peek!
Living Legend: Billy Branch By Bill Dahl
Fueling Musicians Program - Joe Bonamassa's program to support and assist musicians
WLAC: Blues, Baby Chicks and Stim-U-Aid By Reverend Billy C. Wirtz
That Chicago Blues Sound By Wayne Baker Brooks
20 Years of Blues By Kaati Gaffney, Publisher - celebrating our 20th and our journey
What’s Cookin’ - Blueswoman Shaun Murphy shares a fave recipe
Hooked on Blues Docs - by Tom Andrews Cool blues documentaries
Trumpet Records Courtesy of the Delta Blues Museum - a testament to Mississippi’s musical gift to the world
And more!...
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Cliff Stevens:: BETTER DAYS
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Cliff Stevens is a Montreal-based blues rock guitarist who writes, sings and produces his own albums, drawing inspiration from guitarists like Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Johnny Winter and Rory Gallagher, influences that are reflected in his playing and songwriting. His talent has been praised by many including Blues Blast Magazine (USA) said this about his last release: “Stevens shows us that he can write really good songs and deliver them with passion. The guitar sound and playing is outstanding.” Blues Matters Magazine said: “Stevens is every inch a performer in the same mold as Eric Clapton.”
Better Days is the fifth solo release by Cliff Stevens, with eleven new original songs in an array of styles from driving blues-rock, slow classic blues to acoustic country blues. His life journey currently reflects a more personal and introspective writing style, all the while blending it with a blues rock edge that fans still know and love. He is currently on a 30-day European tour to promote this upcoming release.
Midwest Record recently reviewed Better Days: “Swaggering guitar driven blues rock from a cat that’s been to the top and the bottom and finds the top is a much better place with a much better view.”
Pre-order Better Days on iTunes or Amazon before June 10 and Cliff will send you a personally signed copy of the album with a bonus track and free shipping.
With his latest release, Cliff Stevens promises that Better Days are still ahead.
Website
Facebook
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Photo Moments with the 20th Annual BFG Magazine!
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 San Francisco Bay Area Blues singer DeJeana Burkes says, “got my Guide... 'bluesing!'”
DeJeana is also the founder of the North and Greater Richmond Blues Foundation (NGRBF). The Foundation is putting on the upcoming Richmond Walk-Jimmy McCracklin Street renaming Project on May 28th. This live video shoot and street party in Richmond, California will also have Blues Festival Guide magazines onhand for event goers.
Thanks so much DeJeana and thank you for all you do for the music and community.
Photo courtesy DeJeana Burkes
ORDER YOUR 2022 MAGAZINE!If you're a BFG client contact your sales rep.
*GET THE ANNUAL BFG MAG & SEND US A PIC WITH IT!
Anyone can Order one here! Once you receive, have fun, get creative and SNAP A PHOTO of you, your friends, and/or artists, etc. with the BFG magazine and EMAIL photo, caption (120 words or less), URL if applicable, and photo credit to e-Guide editor!
The Blues Foundation is the official sponsor of our 20th Anniversary 2022 Blues Festival Guide!
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Yazoo County Mississippi to Host 50th Bentonia Blues Festival in June
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 (BENTONIA, MS) - This year marks the 50th anniversary of one of the longest-running blues festivals in the US. Bentonia is a tiny town in southern Yazoo County, Mississippi, which is also home to the oldest authentic juke joint that is still in daily operation. The 50th Anniversary Bentonia Blues Festival takes place June 16-18, 2022, in downtown Bentonia at the historic Blue Front Cafe. Blues musicians from as close as the Mississippi Delta and as far away as Boston will come to help keep the blues alive. The 2022 line-up includes festival favorites like Terry “Harmonica” Bean, 19th Street Red, Libby Rae Watson, and RL Boyce. Admission to the event is free.
“When I started this festival in 1972, it was to help preserve the Bentonia style of blues. I knew that it would be a great event, but I never knew it would be as big as it is now,” says Jimmy “Duck” Holmes. Mr. Holmes who still presents the festival is a Grammy nominee and is considered to be the last of the Bentonia bluesmen. His parents opened the Cafe in 1948, and he has owned and operated the juke joint himself since 1970.
More information about the line-up, dates, and times can be found on the Bentonia Blues Festival page on Facebook. Visitors to the area can find more information about places to eat and stay including hotels, motels, and RV Parks in the Yazoo County area at this website or by calling the Yazoo County CVB at 800-381-0662.
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Prairie Dog Blues Festival coming July 28-30, 2022
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 (PRAIRIE DU CHIEN, WI) - The Prairie Dog is one of the most laid-back blues festivals out there! It’s held every year on Wisconsin’s historic St. Feriole Island in a beautiful city park, right on the Mississippi River, nestled between jagged cliffs and green hills untouched by the Ice Age! Once you get that cold drink in your hand, great tunes in your ear and friendly people all around, you'll realize you're at one of the most beautiful venues anywhere and will soon be calling yourself a Prairie Dogger!
This year's festival features: The Ghost Town Blues Band, Katie Henry, Jimmy Nick & Don't Tell Mama, Joanna Connor, The Steepwater Band, Left Wing Bourbon, Dirty Red & The Soul Shakers, Mama's Worry, Avey Grouws, Eddie Turner, Veronica Lewis, Gabe Stillman, and Caleb Johnson (winner of American Idol).
Tickets and camping are available online after May 15 here. Information on accommodations can be found here or by calling 800-732-1673. Tickets also available at the gate. Like our Facebook page and watch to win free festival tickets! Camp on site and walk to the gate of the festival only 200-300 yards. Food and drink, campfires, singing, playing music and telling stories is strongly encouraged. One block walk off The Island and you’re downtown surrounded by family-owned pubs, restaurants and small retail stores. Most downtown pubs this year will have bands as well. If a motel is more your style, blues fest shuttles will get you to the fest in 5-minutes or less!
New for 2022 is a free Thursday night Kick-Off Party! The party starts at 5pm hosted by The Ghost Town Blues Band. Music 6:30-10:30pm on the tent stage. If camping, camp free Thursday night! No carry-ins of food or drink. Food vendors and non-food vendors will be set-up.
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The Chesapeake Bay Blues Festival returns for its final show May 21-22
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By Stuart Miller/Washington Post
(ANNAPOLIS, MD) - When the Chesapeake Bay Blues Festival kicks off on May 21, more than a quarter of the acts will be 35 or under: Gabe Stillman, Ally Venable, Samantha Fish and headliner Joss Stone. That young talent is a vital sign for the future of a genre that, for decades, has been written off as dead or dying.
“The blues always seems like a dying genre, but it keeps replenishing itself with younger musicians constantly coming in,” says Don Hooker, who co-founded the Annapolis festival in 1998 and has long nurtured young talent — his first three festivals featured then-teenagers Jonny Lang and Shemekia Copeland and 20-something Susan Tedeschi.
Yet the Chesapeake Bay Blues Festival is folding its tents after this year, citing rising costs, declining attendance and loss of sponsorships in a Facebook post announcing the decision.
Hooker, who runs the festival as a nonprofit, raising money for local charities, expects crowds this year between 5,000 and 8,000, a steep drop from the 20,000 of two decades ago. Other blues festivals nationally have also folded or, as Hooker notes, followed the Cockeysville, MD-based Hot August Blues Festival, which is now the Hot August Music Festival, with a lineup that barely includes any blues.
The young musicians playing at Sandy Point State Park this weekend are more optimistic about the future of the blues, with Fish, 33, saying that their presence is reason to believe. “There’s always hope when there’s a younger generation picking up the torch,” she says.
Stillman, 26, says the music will always survive. “It’s a folk music — it’s earthy, rhythmic and expressive, and so many people can relate to the sounds and the subject matter. So, I think it’ll always grab people.” …continue reading
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Little Village presents 5 World Premieres June 2
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(BERKELEY, CA) - It's been busy in the workshop at Little Village, and on Thursday, June 2, at the Freight & Salvage, they're presenting five new albums of just ridiculously good music from an amazingly talented batch of artists.
• Maurice Tani, who has a new album of his own coming out this summer, will host, and also share a few songs from the new release.
• DaShawn Hickman/Charlie Hunter: Sacred Steel from Greensboro, NC, produced and performed by DaShawn Hickman along with Charlie Hunter
• Diunna Greenleaf: Award-winning Houston Blues chanteuse, with her LV debut I Ain't Playin'
• Marina Crouse: Her second LV album, Canto de mi corazón, features songs in Spanish originally performed by Eydie Gormé
• Rome Yamilov/Henry Kaiser: Two generations of avant-garde guitar in a musical exploration of blues legend JB Lenoir. This is some pretty out-there stuff!
• Mike Schermer: Artists from Marcia Ball to Bruce Springsteen have noted his songwriting prowess, and he's Just Gettin' Good.
All new recordings will be available for purchase that evening.
Find tickets here.
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Cincy Blues Society presents 2022 Cincy Blues Fest July 16
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(CINNCINATI, OH) - The Cincy Blues Society announced that after a long two-year break due to the pandemic, the Cincy Blues Fest is coming back bigger and better than ever! The Fest returns to Schmidlapp Event Lawn at Smale Riverfront Park in downtown Cincinnati on July 16.
The lineup includes Toronzo Cannon, Marquise Knox, and Shawn Murphy, and local acts Noah Wotherspoon, G. Miles and the KY Cuzins, plus band and solo/duo winners of the Cincy Blues Challenge (TBD), and the Blues In The Schools Band.
Visit the Cincy Blues Fest website for more information and to purchase tickets.
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Flagstaff Blues & Brews Festival 2022
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Eric Ramsey "Hurricane Women Blues"
(2022 IBC Solo/Duo Winner)
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Which Legendary Rhythm & Blues Cruise Hits Your Groove?
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Bluesin’ is back baby! We're excited to Return to the West Coast in 2022! Cabins on Sale Now!
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LRBC #37 Sea Of Cortez
Cabins On Sale NOW! 95+% Sold & Going Fast…
Oct. 29 ~ Nov. 5, 2022
San Diego, CA to Cabo San Lucas, La Paz & Loreto
Sailing on Holland America’s ms Koningsdam
Band Lineup, Cabin Availability
LRBC #38 Eastern Caribbean
Cabins SOLD OUT & Wait List is HOT!
Jan. 28 ~ Feb. 4, 2023
Ft. Lauderdale, FL to St. John, St. Maarten & Half Moon Cay (Bahamas Private Island). Sailing on Holland America’s ms Nieuw Statendam. Band Lineup, Cabin Pricing & More Here! Join the Waitlist by visiting here or
call (816) 753-7979
The Best Blues Experience on the Planet!
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LEGENDARY RHYTHM & BLUES CRUISE
More Than A Cruise… More Than A Festival…
More Than You Can Imagine!
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Holidays, Birthdays and... Just In Case
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 • May 30 Memorial Day USA
Birthdays upcoming of note:
May 19-Jimmy Thackery (1953); May 20-Joe Cocker (1944-2014); May 21-Fats Waller (1904-1943), Dave Specter (1963), Billy Wright (1932-1991 pictured), 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 T-Bone Walker (1910-1975), Gladys Knight (1944), Kaati (BFG Owner/Publisher), Papa John Creech (1917-1989); 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 (1946-2021), Derek Trucks (1979); Jun 9-Jackie Wilson (1934–1984); Jun 10-Howlin' Wolf aka Chester Arthur Burnett (1910-1976)
Just in case:
 May 22 is "National Buy A Musical Instrument Day" You guitar players reading this are probably laughing and thinking "... isn't every day?!" But what about the rest of us... what would you have on your wish list?
Music is such an integral part of life and man has been creating instruments for... well... flutes made from bones of mammoths and swans (!) were used in the Upper Paleolithic age some 30,000-37,000 years ago! From the 5th-15th century North African instruments found their way to Europe, and instruments from Mesopotamia appeared in maritime Southeast Asia. Between 1750-1900, in the Classical and Romantic periods, instruments were used in new ways. By the 20th century electronic instruments were developed. I don't play guitar or piano, my voice is my instrument, but I do love hand percussions instruments (and I can play a mean rubboard)!
(click image to enlarge)
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Then please drop on by and "LIKE" us and get
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Radio Submit Roots Blues Chart
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Billboard & iTunes #1 Blues Albums
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Billboard/iTunes #1 Blues Albums - as of May 19, 2022
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 #1 Billboard
BONNIE RAITT
Just Like That
#1 iTunes
BONNIE RAITT
Just Like That
(Note: iTunes rankings change very often.
This is #1 as of e-Guide publishing time)
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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.
Checkout website Festival page!
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North Carolina Blues Week Series
May-12-2022 - May-22-2022
Greensboro, North Carolina USA
34th Folk Alliance International
May-18-2022 - May-22-2022
Kansas City, Missouri USA
Blues on Broadbeach
May-19-2022 – May-22-2022
Broadbeach, Australia
Carolina Blues Festival
May-21-2022
Greensboro, North Carolina, USA
24th and Final
Chesapeake Bay Blues Festival
May-21-2022 – May-22-2022
Annapolis, Maryland, USA
Silver City Blues Festival
May-27-2022
Silver City, New Mexico, USA
Ground Zero Blues Club
21st Anniversary
May-27-2022 – May-28-2022
Clarksdale, Mississippi, USA
Goat Fest IX
May-27-2022 – May-28-2022
Clarksdale, Mississippi, USA
Rainy Days Blues Festival
May-28-2022
Springfield, Oregon, USA
Red’s Old Timers Music Festival
May-28-2022
Clarksdale, Mississippi, USA
Exit 56 Blues Fest
May-28-2022 – May-29-2022
Brownsville, Tennessee, USA
Rory Gallagher Int'l Festival
Jun-02-2022 – Jun-05-2022
Co. Donegal, Ballyshannon, Ireland
Greeley Blues Jam 2022
Jun-03-2022 – Jun-04-2022
Greeley, Colorado, USA
Havre de Grace Jazz & Blues Fest
Jun-03-2022 – Jun-05-2022
Havre de Grace, Maryland, USA
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please go to our website
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Russell City Awareness
Blues Series
Jun-04-2022 – Jul-30-2022
Hayward, California, USA
Holland Intl' Blues Festival
Jun-09-2022 – Jun-11-2022
Holland, Netherlands
Chicago Blues Festival
Jun-09-2022 – Jun-12-2022
Chicago, Illinois, USA
Flagstaff Blues and Brews
Jun-10-2022 - Jun-11-2022
Flagstaff, Arizona, USA
Utah Blues Festival
Jun-10-2022 – Jun-11-2022
Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
32nd Billtown Blues Festival
Jun-10-2022 - Jun-12-2022
Billtown, Pennsylvania, USA
Cape Fear Blues Festival
Jun-10-2022 – Jun-12-2022
Wilmington, North Carolina, USA
Stomp The Blues Festival
Jun-11-2022
Springfield, Missouri, USA
Bentonia Blues Fest
Jun-16-2022 – Jun-18-2022
Bentonia, Mississippi, USA
Blues On The Fox
Jun-17-2022 – Jun-18-2022
Aurora, Illinois, USA
A Weekend Of Blues
Jun-17-2022 – Jun-19-2022
Hemlock , New York, USA
Alpine Country Blues Festival
Jun-17-2022 – Jun-18-2022
Alpine, Arizona, USA
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We continue to stay 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
We welcome e-Guide suggestions and questions. You can reach our E-Guide editor, Michele Lundeen (pictured here) via EMAIL.
Michele is also a singer, songwriter, performer and bandleader based in the San Diego County, California area and nicknamed the "Queen of Steam" for her high energy and passionate style.
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 find out 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.
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Hey blues lovers! Got 
