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| Photo By Bobby Rush |
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Bobby Rush, one of headliners of this weekend's Cincy Blues Fest, is a legend with both Chicago and Mississippi roots.
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The Cincy Blues Fest, under the auspices of the Cincy Blues Society, has grown from a small, one-day indoor concert into an expansive two-day/four-stage outdoor event held at Sawyer Point. Coming off one of its most successful presentations since the Fest began in 1992, the Society hopes for even bigger accomplishments this year, and that starts with another stellar talent lineup.
The Society is calling this year's fest "Deja Blues," as they look back at some of the festival's previous performers (a number of first time acts will appear this year as well). Here are just a few of the don't-miss mainstage attractions:
· Deborah Coleman (playing at 8 p.m. Friday) is a guitarist of invention and tradition, influenced early on by second generation Blues players like Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page and Jimi Hendrix and then inspired by a Howlin' Wolf/Muddy Waters/John Lee Hooker show to dig deeper into the Blues' roots. A military brat with a musical family, Coleman picked up guitar at 8, played bass in R&B bands at 15 and switched to lead guitar after hearing Hendrix. She left music at 25 to marry and raise her daughter, returning in 1993 to win a talent search sponsored by the Charleston Blues Festival. Her debut album, Takin' a Stand, came out in 1994, followed by a series of releases for Blind Pig and then her latest CD, 2004's What About Love?, for her new label, Telarc.
· Calvin Cooke (9:30 p.m. Friday) might not have the same sacred steel profile as superstar Robert Randolph, but Randolph would never have attained his current status without Cooke's tutelage. The 61-year-old, a Detroit native and 30-year Chrysler employee, has played sacred steel (a black Gospel style of electric slide guitar playing) at the city's eastside House of God church for the past 45 years. Since his automotive retirement, Cooke has concentrated on his music, releasing his first full album, Heaven (produced by Randolph), and playing festivals and gigs throughout the country, earning stellar accolades and the respect of Nashville's session steel guitarists, who have crowned Cooke "the B.B. King of Gospel steel guitar."
· Detroit Women with Motor City Express (4:30 p.m. Saturday) began over 20 years ago when Detroit native/Seattle resident Kate Hart founded an R&B revue called Seattle Women in Rhythm and Blues as an act intended for a single performance that stuck together for 18 years. Four years ago, Hart returned to her Detroit home and assembled a new group based on the same idea: stylistically diverse female R&B/Soul singers backed by an impeccable Blues band. Detroit Women with Motor City Express have been described as contemporary versions of the Leon Russell/Joe Cocker school of rollicking R&B, and the band has shared stages with everyone from the Rolling Stones and Elton John to Ike and Tina Turner and Joe Cocker himself. Bring your dancing shoes ... with Detroit Women, it's all feet, no seat.
· Slick Ballinger (6 p.m. Saturday) is only 22 years old, but he made a huge impression last year with his debut appearance at the Cincy Blues Fest. The North Carolina native is an old soul, playing lowdown, juke-joint Mississippi Blues with string-snapping intensity and singing with the rumbling power of a Southern thunderstorm. Close your eyes during Ballinger's set, and you'll swear you're listening to someone four times his age. Although his debut album, Mississippi Soul, came out earlier this year on John Prine's Oh Boy label, Ballinger has already accumulated a number of awards in his young career, including a second place finish overall in the prestigious International Blues Challenge, where he won the Albert King Award for Most Promising New Player.
· James Harman and Kid Ramos (7:30 p.m. Saturday) have a long history together and individually. Harman's career began in Florida at age 16 when he was invited to sit in on harmonica with local bands after being introduced to the music of Otis Redding, Solomon Burke, B.B. King and Joe Tex as an underage fan at the same clubs. He soon started his own bands, played around the country and began a recording career. In 1970, on advice from his friends in Canned Heat, Harman moved to California and started the Icehouse Blues Band, which morphed into the James Harman Band, an eventual finishing school for roots players (Phil Alvin departed in 1978 to form The Blasters). David "Kid" Ramos played guitar with Harman for 10 years before setting out on his own; he eventually joined the Fabulous Thunderbirds. After a long hiatus, the two are back together and better than ever.
· Bobby Rush (9:15 p.m. Saturday) is one of the most flamboyant and energetic performers in the illustrious history of the Blues. Now 66 years old, Rush came to prominence in the Chicago scene of the '60s, singing in front of bands featuring guitarists like Luther Allison and Freddie King. He eventually switched to the chitlin' circuit, a better venue for his more risqué lyrics and stage presentation. A move to Mississippi in the '80s and a shift to the Waldoxy label in the '90s signaled Rush's return to his Blues/Soul roots, resulting in a string of accolades from various sources, including a Mississippi State Senate resolution honoring Rush for musical contributions.
CINCY BLUES FEST (cincyblues.org) runs Friday and Saturday at Sawyer Point.
