May 2018 - Page 2 of 3 - Cascade Blues Association

NW Blues All Stars In Hood River

As the summer weather warms up, check out calendars for shows taking place in various locations around the Northwest. There’s always something happening.

On Saturday, June 9, radio personality and show producer Squrl will be bringing a fabulous collection of three of the region’s best blues artists for a show at The Pines 1852, located at 202 Cascade Avenue, Suite B, in Hood River. Performing that evening will be Eugene’s slide guitar master Henry Cooper, Portland’s keyboard ace Ed Neumann, and multi-Blues Music Award nominee/winner drummer Jimi Bott.

Tickets are $20.00 in advance, available for purchase at The Pines Tasting Room. Show time is 7:00 pm.

Gorge Blues & Brews Festival Celebrates 25 Years

Past PDX Blues Event

Stevenson, Washington’s Gorge Blues & Brews Festival will be celebrating its silver anniversary on Saturday, June 23 with a full day of sensational Northwest blues artists. There will be sixteen craft breweries, several regional wineries, and many food vendors on hand to help enhance the day’s music. Featured artists this year will be Hillstomp, Ty Curtis, LaRhonda Steele & King Louie, Norman Sylvester Band, Sister Mercy, Timothy James, and a Guitar Slinger Super Jam with Robbie Laws, Ben Rice, Anni Piper, Dave Melyan, Randy Oxford, and Ty Curtis.

The festival takes place at the Skamania County Fairgrounds, 650 SW Rock Creek Drive in Stevenson, from 2:00 – 10:00 pm. Admission is $20.00 per person advance online purchases available at the event’s website, gorgebluesandbrews.com, or $25.00 at the gate. Entry includes five tokens. This event is 21 & over only. Onsite camping is available (check website for information).

There will be a free kick-off night with two acts, The Grateful Growlerz and The Big River Blues Band, on Friday night from 6:00 – 10:00 pm.

Danielle Nicole Books Two Oregon Shows

Past PDX Blues Event

Founding member, lead singer, and bass player of Kansas City blues-rock band Trampled Under Foot, Danielle Nicole stepped out on her own as a solo artist in 2015. Nicole’s distinctive, inventive bass work — which resulted in her becoming the first woman to win the Blues Foundation’s 2014 Blues Music Award for Best Instrumentalist, Bass — is the product of years of intensive roadwork. Although she had no experience with the instrument when she became Trampled Under Foot’s bassist, now she can’t imagine life without it.

Known for her dynamic and passionate performances, Danielle Nicole will be returning to The White Eagle Saloon, 836 N Russell Street, on Thursday, June 21. Tickets for this 8:00 pm show are $10.00 advance at Cascadetickets.com or $12.00 at the door.

Danielle will be headed to Bend on Friday, June 22, where she will appear at The Volcanic Theater Pub, 70 Century Drive, for a double-headed show that also features Ben Rice. Tickets can be purchased in advance at Bendticket.com for $8.00. show time is 9:00 pm.

Muddy Waters Tribute, Fo’ Trains Runnin’

Past PDX Blues Event

Fo’ Trains Runnin’ is a Muddy Waters Tribute show starring four internationally acclaimed blues musicians who relish in the performance of old school traditional blues. Featuring the songs of Muddy Waters and his influences performed in their original style, This show’s artists have accepted many Muddy Awards over their lifetime. Alan Hager on guitar, Mitch Kashmar on harmonica, Jimi Bott on drums, and Dean Mueller on bass. Muddy Waters heavily influenced all of these terrific musicians, and their love for his music shines through clearly in their performances.

This show has been highly popular when performed in the past, filling every venue they have played. The Fo’ Trains Runnin’ show will take place on Saturday, June 23 at The Blue Diamond, 2016 NE Sandy Blvd, starting at 6:00 pm. Admission is $15.00.

Luke Winslow-King Brings a New Orleans Flavor to Portland

Past PDX Blues Event

Luke Winslow-King is a New Orleans-based guitarist, singer, composer, producer, and songwriter. His work is an eclectic mix that combines Mississippi delta blues, folk music, traditional jazz, and roots rock & roll. His alchemical songs blend contemporary ideas with styles from bygone eras producing a sound that is rustic and urbane, elegant and entirely his own. It is a sound that looks to the past to move to the future. This along with his burgundy voice, dapper attire and versatile guitar playing have earned him a reputation as a musician who delivers soulfully energetic and dynamic performances.

Touring in support of his latest release, Blue Mesa, Luke Winslow-King will be returning to Portland for a performance at the White Eagle Saloon on Sunday, June 24, at 7:00 pm. Tickets are $10.00 in advance at Cascadetickets.com or $12.00 at the door day of show. 21 & over only.

Band Stand – June 2018

Band Stand

Steve Cheseborough

Hey Folks! If you have any interest in learning to play blues harp or guitar (or improving the skills you already have), consider the summer classes I’m offering through Artichoke Music. Both meet on Monday evenings beginning June 18 and run for eight weeks.

Blues Harmonica is open to all skill levels. We’ll work on some of the traditions of the early 20th century, when African-American players brought new levels of virtuosity and expressiveness to this German instrument! Open ears and mind, a willingness to practice and an interest in blues are all that’s required. Oh, and a professional-quality diatonic harp in the key of A, which you can buy at the Artichoke store if you don’t already have.

Blues Guitar 1920s-30s-style aims to get you picking and singing the blues in the tradition of Mississippi John Hurt, Robert Johnson, Memphis Minnie, Blind Lemon Jefferson and other great bluesmen and blueswomen. Prerequisites: familiarity with basic chords, ability to keep a beat, interest in the blues and in improving your playing! You’ll need an acoustic guitar, a capo and a slide.

More information and registration is available through artichokemusic.org. You can also contact me through that site with any questions.

Have a great summer (and it’ll be a happier one if it’s music-filled)!

Cheers,
Steve Cheseborough

Beth Hart

CD Review

Front And Center Live From New York
Provogue

Front and Center is a live performance television series on Public Broadcasting that features some of the top artists of the day. Recently Beth Hart recorded an episode for the show at New York’s Iridium Jazz Club and it has been released as a combination live CD and DVD. Witnessing Hart on stage is something special and being able to see and hear in this type is setting is always going to be high entertainment value. She knows how to command a stage and to mesmerize an audience to the point where there is a feeling of participation directly between her and the crowd, no matter what the size of the room.

Performance talent is only one aspect of Beth Hart. She possesses vocal skills that can reach various levels filled with passion. Her song writing is complex and often personal dealing with life’s hardships thrown at her. Whether playing softly behind a piano or working the mic while moving about the stage, it is easy to see why she has been nominated for multiple Grammys and Blues Music Awards.

The show touches on music from throughout her career, but mostly focuses on a lot on the tracks from her two most recent albums, Fire On The Floor and Better Than Home, including stand-out numbers like “Jazz Man,” “Fat Man,” “Let’s Get Together,” “St Teresa” and “Tell Her You belong To Me.” The mood bouncing between upbeat, emotional and closing with the soft delivery of “No Place Like Home.”

The band behind Hart is magnificent, Jon Nichols on guitar, Bob Marinelli on bass, and Bill Ransom on drums. They fill her music with life and energy. For the song’s encore, “Can’t Let Go,” Hart is joined by slide master Sonny Landreth, a great way to close a superb performance. But then again, for those who have seen Beth Hart, all of her performances are superb. Front And Center Live From New York is a welcome addition to her music catalog. If you’re not a fan of Beth Hart now, witnessing and hearing her on stage will surely make you one quickly.

Total Time: 1:12:16

Let’s Get Together / Baddest Blues / Jazz Man / Delicious Surprise / Broken And Ugly / St Teresa / Isolation / Tell Her You Belong To Me / Fat Man / Love Gangster / Leave The Light On / As Long As I Have A Song / Can’t Let Go / For My Friends / No Place Like Home

Norman Sylvester presents “A Phenomenal Concert – The Journey of Blues and Gospel in America”

Past PDX Blues Event

A Phenomenal Concert returns on June 29 to the Alberta Rose Theatre, 3000 NE Alberta Street. This show will focus on the phenomenal journey of blues and gospel in America. Music from the cradle of birth in Africa, the cotton fields of the Mississippi Delta to our urban cities. The blues and gospel music has been a major art form used for communication & inspiration since the days of slavery. Join us for this healing music celebration!

Performers slated for this event will be the Norman Sylvester Revue, featuring LaRhonda Steele, Lenanne Sylvester, Renato Caranto, Peter Moss, Bill Rhoades, Chata Addy, Tevis Hodge, and of course the host of the event Norman Sylvester.

Show time 8:00 pm and is open to all ages. Admission is $20.00, with tickets available in advance at albertarosetheatre.com.

Curtis Salgado Wins At Blues Music Awards

Cascade Blues Note

The thirty-ninth annual Blues Music Awards honoring blues musicians and recordings in 26 categories were held in Memphis, TN, last month. Portland’s own Curtis Salgado was once again awarded the BMA for Soul Vocalist, his ninth BMA award and seventeenth nomination overall. Other local musicians nominated this year were Karen Lovely, Jimi Bott, and The Paul deLay Band. Congratualtions to Curtis and to all the award recipients and nominees.

The night’s biggest winners were Taj Mahal & Keb’ Mo’ for individual awards and for their outstanding collaborative album TajMo, for a total of five awards. Among those Taj Mahal was presented with the prize award of the night, the BB King Entertainer of the Year. Rick Estrin also BMAs took home three himself, including with his band The Nightcats.

Acoustic Album – Break The Chain, Doug MacLeod
Acoustic Artist – Taj Mahal
Album of the Year – TajMo, Taj Mahal & Keb’ Mo’
B.B. King Entertainer of the Year – Taj Mahal
Band of the Year – Rick Estrin & The Nightcats
Best Emerging Artist Album – Southern Avenue, Southern Avenue
Contemporary Blues Album – TajMo, Taj Mahal & Keb’ Mo’
Contemporary Blues Female Artist – Samantha Fish
Contemporary Blues Male Artist – Keb’ Mo’
Historical Album – Luther Allison – A Legend Never Dies, Essential Recordings 1976-1997 (Ruf Records)
Instrumentalist – Vocals – Beth Hart
Instrumentalist – Bass – Michael “Mudcat” Ward
Koko Taylor Award (Traditional Blues Female Artist) – Ruthie Foster
Instrumentalist – Drums – Tony Braunagel
Instrumentalist – Guitar – Ronnie Earl
Instrumentalist – Harmonica – Jason Ricci
Instrumentalist – Horn – Trombone Shorty
Pinetop Perkins Piano Player (Instrumentalist – Piano) – Victor Wainwright
Rock Blues Album – We’re All In This Together, Walter Trout
Traditional Blues Male Artist – Rick Estrin
Rock Blues Artist – Mike Zito
Song of the Year – “The Blues Ain’t Going Nowhere”, written by Rick Estrin
Soul Blues Album – Robert Cray & Hi Rhythm, Robert Cray & Hi Rhythm
Soul Blues Female Artist – Mavis Staples
Soul Blues Male Artist – Curtis Salgado
Traditional Blues Album – Right Place, Right Time, Monster Mike Welch and Mike Ledbetter

Robert Plant & The Sensational Space Shifters and Lucinda Williams Schedule Show At Edgefield

Past PDX Blues Event

McMenamin’s Edgefield Concert Series presents an amazing night with two amazing acts. Robert Plant & The Sensational Space Shifters are joined by Lucinda Williams for a premier double header line-up on Tuesday, June 26, starting at 6:30 pm.

The Los Angeles Times explains that “over two sterling albums and a series of tours over the last five years, Robert Plant & The Sensational Space Shifters have proffered a richly rewarding excursion through sounds of the American blues, English folk, and African and Arabic traditions. The music touches on most facets of Plant’s 50-year career, nodding to the Led Zeppelin in the room just often enough to keep the die-hards from taking up an armed revolt.”

Three-time Grammy Award winner, Lucinda Williams has been carving her own path for more than three decades now. Born in Lake Charles, Louisiana, Williams had been imbued with a “culturally rich, economically poor” worldview. Several years of playing the hardscrabble clubs gave her a solid enough footing to record a self-titled album that would become a touchstone for the embryonic Americana movement – helping launch a thousand musical ships along the way. With multiple best-selling recordings and appearances over the years, Lucinda Williams continues as a fan favorite drawing big crowds.

McMenamin’s Edgefield is located at 2126 SW Halsey Street in Troutdale. Unfortunately this show is sold out, but tickets can still be found through ticket brokers online. Expect high prices, and be wary that these sellers are legitimate.